Since I couldn't take pictures on the dragon boat festival, this time my intention was to turn on my "tourist mode" and act tourist-y. I arrived at around 6:30 pm, and at that point Hong Lim park was already a sea of pink coloured people.
A nice lady handed me the run down of the event. This year theme song was "True Colors" by Cindi Lauper. I find it a nice heart-warming nostalgic song:
...
It's hard to take courage
In a world full of people
You can lose sight of it all
And the darkness inside you
Can make you feel so small
But I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow
...
As I walked around, I noticed something. I started to recognize some of the people there! Guy that I saw in the gym, my yoga instructor, lady that appeared on last year Pink Dot's video, the photographer, the hunky Fridae founder, etc. Oh my, the park is really small!
And what really grabbed my attention was the community tents. I just realised there are so many LGBT community groups in Singapore.
"Queer Book and Movie Club" and "Pelangi Pride Center" are my point of interests. Both offer access to LGBT related literature and sometimes alternative movies screening which always sparks my curiousity (okay I am a geek here). Perhaps I should approach them more.
As an observer, same with last year, my impression is: oh my God...this world is really changing, and it changes fast!
When I was a kid, I read about how "abnormal" LGBT people is. Stories depicted in Intisari, sexology column on magazines (yes..yes I read something that I shouldn't read at that age), newspaper, etc. Also what my parents voiced out about LGBT: "abnormal", and how it doesn't conform with Asian values, that they only belong to the west.
But now this is Asia, and values do change. I don't think we learn homosexuality from the west, we only learn the courage to open our mouths and express our idea, something that heterosexuals also have done long time ago. I really like the fact that now people can easily communicate and form group to support one and another.
Is it a good change? Honestly I don't know. But to observe the change is an excitement.
Honestly again, I feel proud to be there. To witness a group of people slowly change the stigma. Only in Indonesia a temple can be built overnight, but for the rest of the world, unluckily, it will take gradual and arduous process.
For me the song "True Colors" applies to us all. For whatever is your colour, don't be afraid to show it to the world. I'm still learning how to do it :).
At the end, I smiled that day, while my legs were killing me.
