Singapore Bans Gay Book Group

Rights activists in Singapore yesterday condemned the authorities as discriminatory and out of touch for rejecting a theatre group's plan to hold three seminars on gay literature, alongside a play on homosexual themes.

The Fun Stage wanted to hold the seminars to explore issues raised in a forthcoming production, Lovers' Words, a Taiwanese play in which a boy and girl fall in love in a society where homosexuality is the norm.

Russell Heng, the founder of the gay rights group People Like Us, said the police licensing unit should explain why an official statement said the seminars' content "was contrary to public interest".

The play has also yet to secure a licence, despite the application being made in January.

But Richard Chua, artistic co-director of the Fun Stage, said he was optimistic because plays come under the jurisdiction of the media development authority, not the police.

Gay sex is illegal in Singapore.