Wednesday, April 04, 2007

Issues 4: The Gay Media/Entertainment Industry in Singapore - A Majority within the Majority?

Just now, i was wondering about the industry i am into. Mainly the media and entertainment industry. I was wondering, in a rough percentage, how many gay people are actually working in this industry and are contributing to the Singaporean economy. How did i get to this thought? Well.. let's put it as follow:

First, i am working in this media industry for the past 4/5 years? Something like that...
A lot of my close friends are gay and happen to be part of the media industry
and just now, i have a few clients coming in and out of the office and there is at least 1 gay person part of the group.
and sometimes, these "1 gay person" happen to be "famous". (DJs on radio, TV/Theatre actors, etc.)

So i wonder. I wonder what is the percentage of gay people (closeted or not) are actually part of this industry. And i am not pinpointing at them, in contrary, my gaydar seem to react pretty well to gays... =P .

Since i have been living in Singapore (that makes it soon 6 years, OMG!) i just can't believe how big the PLU community is. I mean, even in Switzerland, where homosexuals are being accepted and have their own groups, lawyers, insurence agencies and gym groups, i was never able to actually "see" one of them. My gaydar was either not working or the "gay" vibes were simply not as detectable as it is here in Asia.

I just feel that, when i walk down Orchard road for instance, i can "sense" at least 1 gay couple/lesbian/gay every... what? 5 minutes? And i can notice them 10 meters from me. Are they/we that obvious...?? =P

Then, there is also an other thing made me think. If the PLU community is so d*** everywhere in the Singaporean media industry (that includes the government sector, mind you!), why is it that the church (as usual) and/or the government wants to "ban" them from being themselves?

Recently, there was an article talking about this church group wanting to change one of the Singaporean laws regarding unnatural sex. Right now, the law pinpoints to gay male and what the church group wants to do, is to also make it valid for lesbians. But when
i read the article, something shocked me most... The fact that the church group didn't even know the difference between Lesbianism and Homosexuality... (do you see the irony?). Just read the article and you will see what i mean. (Fridae.com article)
If these people don't even know the difference (or not...) between those 2 terms... then i don't know what to think of ignorance.

Now, i am curious of what could or would happen if all the gays would just quit their jobs, closeted or not. I wonder how the economy would look like. Isn't it interesting? Think about it.

Anyway... these are just thoughts that cannot be tested alone... =P



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