Singapore’s annual ‘Pink Dot’ celebration that shows support for same sex attracted people in the island nation drew a record crowd of 21,000 people last night.
Now in it’s fifth year the event has progressively grown. In 2009 2,500 people attended the first event. Last night’s crowd filled Speaker’s corner in Hong Lim Park with thousands of pink lights made from torches and mobile phones.
The annual event is significant in the country that still outlaws homosexuality. Unlike Pride protests in other countries that are overtly political, Pink Dot works within Singapore’s cultural system by being non-antagonistic.
“Every year, we are left humbled by the turn-out of participants, which has always surpassed expectations. This is a strong indication of the increasingly widespread support of Singapore’s LGBT community, and a growing realisation among all Singaporeans, straight or LGBT, that everyone has a place and a part to play in this place called ‘Home’, said Pink Dot spokesperson Paerin Choa after the event.
This year’s event had the theme of ‘Home’ and asked if all Singaporean’s can truly call the city home? A social media campaign made use of nationalistic song ‘Home’ which was written in 1997 by pop star Dick Lee, who is currently a judge on ‘Singapore Idol’.
The event was made possible by some strong corporate backers including long term supporters Google and Barclays, who have been joined by financial firm J.P. Morgan, the Park Royal Hotel, contact lens specialist CooperVision and audio branding agency The Gunnery. Participants were entertained by a line-up of some of Singapore’s favourite celebrities at the Pink Dot 2013 Concert.
Check out the amazing photos from yesterday’s event on the group’s Flickr account.
