Earlier this month the grandson of Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew publicly came out when he posed for a portrait for an exhibition featuring LGBTIQ Singaporeans.
Li Huanwu was photographed with his boyfriend for an exhibition called Out in Singapore. Li Huanwu is pictured standing with his arms wrapped around his 27 year-old partner Yirui Heng.
The project shot by photographer Leslie Kee aims to help develop a society where LGBTI people can comfortably come out to their friends and families.
Homosexuality remains illegal in Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew was Singapore’s Prime Minister from it’s foundation in 1954 through to 1990. He then took on the roles of First Minister and Mentor Minister maintaining an involvement in the countries government. He stepped down formally from office in 2011 and passed away in 2015 aged 91.
The former leader spoke about homosexuality on several occasions and said it would be up to the Singaporean people to decide if they wanted the laws to be changed.
In a 2011 radio interview he said the countries LGBTI population should avoid aggressively campaigning for change. In his 2011 autobiography Hard Truths to Keep Singapore Going the former Prime Minister said he believed homosexuality was genetic and although none of his own children were gay, he would have no problem if one of them was.
Thirty one year-old Li Huanwu has publicly shown his support for Singapore’s Pink Dot celebration in previous years, but now he has put his own sexuality front and centre. As well as being the grandson of the countries founder, he is also the nephew of current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
The annual event held earlier today sees large crowds gather in Singapore’s Hong Lim Park. The only location in Singapore where government approved protests are permitted to take place. To show their support for LGBTI people attendees wear pink clothes and hold up banners and placards.
Since the event was launched a decade ago it has grown in popularity with record breaking crowds attending each year. In recent years the government has tightened restrictions around the event, insisting that only Singaporean citizens can attend, and restricting multi-national companies from sponsoring the event.
Originally the highlight of the event was people shining pink coloured torches into the night sky to create a giant ‘pink dot’. For the last few years the event has been held during the day, but this year it is returning to the night time.
OIP Staff
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