All we are saying

Last Saturday, I got to cover Pink Dot 2010, which was great because had I not been working, I would’ve loved to be there anyway.  Granted, the last minute assignment meant I wasn’t wearing pink, but I was feeling very rosy in spirit indeed.

It was... for lack of a better word, the gayest event I’ve ever attended in more senses than one. 

 

  

 

Families or couples mingled and picnicked on the grass with their dogs and volunteers handed out pink fans, balloons and flyers as All You Need Is Love and Mika played in the background.  At some point, I saw a flamboyant guy in shorts and black stockings doing high kicks as he twirled across the field.

Some fire-twirlers practising their stuff while waiting.

It was moving to see how many people from different walks of life showed up – families with young kids, LGBT couples, older people, the wheelchair bound, government people, even people from my office on their day off, people of all races and religions, all happily hanging out on the field in a giant party for the same cause.

Even more touching was the fact that many parents had come out with their gay children, or sibilings with their gay brothers or sisters, to talk about their experiences and how they had grown to realise that people are the same, whatever their sexuality. 

I’ve been faced with the homophobia, the loss of friends, the disbelieving snarls, the “do you actually think you have a future together?” questions, as if it were a special kind of audacity to hope for equal rights, the parents who tell me that being gay is the same as being a paedophile or committing bestiality (I mean, seriously?).

As someone who knows what absolute non-acceptance in that realm is like, it was quite a lovely and different experience to have.  (Dianah told me last year, even one gay muslim boy’s mother came out in a pink tudung!)

 

  

Glenn Goei and Ivan Heng were out in full Marilyn Monroe mode.  I'm not sure I want to know about the two flanking beefcakes though!

At about 6:00pm, everyone moved to form a pink heart and then a pink dot, lead by this guy on a ladder, after which they sang Stand By Me.

 

 Kevin prepared himself mentally to climb the large tree behind us to get photos from a prime location. 

 

Up until the point when he actually made it up into the branches, I’d had my doubts about his tree-climbing ability, given that the trunk was mossy and without any footholds.

The best part of the event was how stinkin’ cute the dogs were.  There were two little wriggling sausage dogs wearing pink ribbons who absolutely stole the show everywhere they went.  

 

 

 

Maybe this time next year I’ll be able to go and be part of the dot instead?  The five pink dresses in my wardrobe have their money on “yes”!