Dear Sayoni members,

Imagine..A tantalizing barbecue spread at sunset by the poolside of the Hilton surrounded by some of hottest babes around Asia. How does that sound to you? Make that an entire weekend of activities by the women, only for the women.

Two Queens has it all planned for you at the NATION VI party for women � W @ Nation. The weekend promises to be one filled with festivities and fun where women can party alongside one another, forge new friendships (and something more) or to just chill out in the company of friends.

Besides exclusive female only programs such as an opening girl�s party and cabaret show, the W Party packages also includes entries to Fridae�s signature party Nation and closing party Hot Couture featuring the ever charismatic DJ Kate Monroe where we all join together and dance the night away as one big Fridae nation.

Package Info: Two Queens Party Queen Package: $250.00 or
Two Queens Absolute Queen Package (with accomdation) :
5D 4N Package (20th to 24th Oct)
Special Early Bird Price – till 8th Sept at $432.00
All Two Queens & Fridae members at $448.00
Standard Price : $480.00 (non-members)

Absolute Queen 4D 3N Packages (20th to 23rd Oct)
Special Early Bird Price – till 8th Sept at $387.00
All Two Queens & Fridae members at $408.00
Standard Price : $430 (non-members)

These packages are EXCLUSIVELY for the women and separate from the normal packages for the boys.
Prices have been packaged for a separate hotel, 2 x nation parties, 1 x exclusive girls party, BBQ Poolside dinner/ International Cabaret dinner & a whole load of other girly activites that runs exclusively for the girls only.

Full details on website.

Travelling Dates:
You can opt to travel from the 19th /20th to 22nd/23rd/24th Oct, depending on your own schedule. 24th oct, btw is a Hari Raya Puasa holiday in Singapore.

How to get there?
Jetstar is offering a special 2-way trip ticket at $251 (inclusive of taxes) This special rate can only be booked online if you book through the Fridae nation site. (not accesible through the jetstar asia website directly)

You can also try accessing www.tigerairways.com .The rates to fly to Phuket on the 18th or 19th Oct still cheap at the moment. At the same time, Tiger flys back to Singapore on the 23rd of Oct as well.

Who’s Going?
We have also tied up with girl groups from Malaysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, & Thailand, so we are expecting this to be a regional event.

Special Promo:
The Early Bird packages have been extended till 8th September as the websites were launched later than expected.
We will be holding two promotions with Club95:
Club95 celebrates w@nation. Swing down on the 31st Aug or 9th September 8pm, and pay $95 off the package price (standard price) if you book on the spot*! Two Queens crew will be on hand to answer your queries about w@nation.

For More Details...
The w@nation packages are offically launched on both www.fridae.com/nation & www.twoqueensparty.com !
To link up to the w@nation on fridae, please click on the little woman figure on the right hand side of the screen. It will zip you onto a different page.

For more enquires, do give me shout at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or at 6224-3188.

We’ll see you at Phuket!
(www.twoqueensparty.com)

�Singapore,� Leong (1997: 142) wrote in 1997, �appears to be the last frontier in the Asian region for positive gay and lesbian developments�. Almost a decade later, however, this statement no longer rings true because Singaporean activists successfully held the first gay pride month there in Aug 2005 with little state interference. Called IndigNation, this gay pride month witnessed limited attendance and lacked the often-fully commercialized gay pride parade that has come to represent Euro-American gay pride (Armstrong 2002). Instead, IndigNation offered such free events as a poetry-reading, an art exhibition, and two public lectures on the history of same-sex practices in Singapore and China. The activists held IndigNation to protest both heavy state censorship of magazines serving gay Singaporeans and the state�s ban on such public gay parties as Nation. Incepted in 2001, Nation was a series of three parties that Asian gay portal site Fridae.com organized yearly to celebrate Singapore�s independence on Aug 9. Despite Nation�s reputation as the crown jewel of Asian circuit parties � it attracted a record 8,000 revelers in 2004 � and the US$6 million tourist revenue it generated that same year, the state banned it in 2005 on still-unverified allegations that Nation threatened public health as an HIV vector.

In view of the banning of Nation, homosexuality appears incompatible with the Singa-porean state. Although homosexuality, modernity and Americanization are not necessarily coter-minous (cf. Brenner 1998), the state treats them otherwise. Using antiquated laws that Singapore inherited from its days as a British factory, the state criminalizes same-sex acts as the results of the �immoral� American influence that industrialization exposed Singapore to in the late 1960s. However, I argue that homosexuality does indeed commensurate with the Singaporean state. Although Fridae.com continues to deny it, Nation presented the strongest statement of full national belonging gay Singaporeans have made thus far. Indeed, in attracting mostly moneyed gay men from Asia to its three nights of non-stop partying, Nation mimicked the Singaporean state in positing consumption as the basis of citizenship. In assuming that good consumption will literally buy gay Singaporeans full societal acceptance, Nation practices an assimilationist politics that Duggan (2003) calls �the new homonormativity.� Ironically, it takes IndigNation, with its free and diverse events that focused on inclusivity and community-building outside of consumption, to highlight both this commonality and the limits of homonormative model of gay citizenship that Nation presented.

The seeming incommensurability between homosexuality and the Singaporean state rests upon two bases. Legally speaking, same-sex acts remain chargeable offences in Singapore. Sections 377 and 377A of the Penal Code punish �unnatural� sex and gross indecency respectively, with life sentences as the maximum penalty. Media guidelines also forbid the positive portrayal of homosexuality. As recently as Oct 2006, the Media Development Authority (MDA) fined cable-TV provider Starhub Cable Vision (SCV) S$10,000 (US$6,500) for airing an episode of the American reality TV program Cheaters that featured footage of women engaging in m�nage � trois and bondage sex. Although SCV aired the heavily pixilated footage at midnight, the MDA still found it guilty of promoting lesbianism (The Straits Times 2006).

It was held at Amara hotel, on 10 May 2007, pertaining to the�Christian perspective on�homosexuality. The church that hosted it is FCC (Free Community Church), the only gay-affirming church in Singapore.There are 4 Speakers: (in order as presented on the panel yesterday)
1. Rev. Dr. Tan Kim Huat
(Chen Su Lan Professor of New Testament and
Dean of Studies at Trinity Theological College)
2.�Anthony Yeo
(Clinical Director of Counselling and Care Centre)
3. Edmund Smith
(Founder of ex-gay movement Real Life Ministry)
4. Rev. Dr. Yap Kim Hao, PhD
(Boston University, Mass, USA)
(First Asian Bishop of The Methodist Church in Malaysia and Singapore, Pastoral Advisor- Free Community Church)

The�Moderator:
Augustine Anthuvan
(Assistant Programme Manager, MediaCorp Radio)

Once again, it�s time to celebrate gay pride. As in the last few years, August is Singapore’s gay pride season. This year’s Events Calendar (subject to change) can be seen at

www.plu.sg/indignation/

Indignation, Singapore’s Pride Season organized by People Like Us, is coming around again. To be held in the month of August, it once again celebrates the diversity of interests of the LGBT communities. The program will have art, photography, poetry, plays, talks and outdoor events.

This will be the third in the Indignation series, after successful seasons in 2005 and 2006.

Sayoni, a proud member of People Like Us will be organizing a series of events in Indignation. Watch this space as you bring you more memories and updates.

Event: Bifocal
Date: 4th August 2007
Time: 3pm
Venue: 72-13

Can you remember the last time someone had a talk on bisexuality?

Wait, have we ever had a talk on bisexuality? Sure there are offensive articles published on gay websites, accompanied by even more offensive comments. Sure there are threads running in forums and mailing lists about how much they hate bisexuals. Sure there are people on both sides of the gender and sexuality fence cursing the B-word. But there still has never been anything that directly [and unbiasedly] tackles the issue on a community level. For all our political discourse, for all the coming out, relationship, single, chinese, artistic events, [insert what you've got] talks, forums, workshops and support groups we have every year, both within and without Indignation, this issue has gone entirely unaddressed.

This year, we plan to correct this omission – we are going to put the B back in the LGBTQ[IT?]. Organised by Sayoni, we present BiFocal, a forum on bisexuality, for both men and women. This ground-breaking event will cover issues that bisexuals face in their everyday life, in coming out, in relationships, in finding their own space within the queer community.

What does it really mean to be bisexual, in a world that is discovering its sexual fluidity? Who qualifies as a bisexual � is there a qualification at all? Can bisexuals ever be monogamous? Are bisexuals in straight relationships traitors? Are bisexuals separate from the gay community or part of it? Come down to hear various points of view on all these questions and more, in this fun, interactive forum.

If you wish to know more about this forum, feel free to email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Also feel free to leave comments on this post on the issue, suggest topics for discussion et cetera.

Related links:

Indignation Schedule

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Queer-themed Chinese writing has found a place in Singapore�s literary landscape, individually. Now they will come together at this groundbreaking event, for dialogue and expression. Celebrating diversity, this promises to be a literary treat for all.

Featuring academic and playwright Quah Sy Ren, writer Ng How Wee, young writers Teng Qian Xi, Irene Oh, Hong Simin and more, the audience will be treated to a forum wherein the intricacies of forbidden love and its inspiration, as spoken through Singapore Chinese literary works (original and translated), are explored. Follow us as we seek camaraderie in diversity.

// ShareThis

• Forum discussion: Indignation: tong bu tong, Sat 4 Aug 7.30 pm, in Mandarin
• technorati: queer literature, chinese, gay, lesbian, indignation, poetry, short story, prose, play

Event: Relationship Myths
Date: 6th August 2007 (Monday)
Time: 7.30pm
Venue: 72-13

Have you been to forums in which lesbian women share about their relationships? What have you heard?

Stories of difficult love and barriers galore… the search for family acceptance of oneself and partners… the average lesbian relationship is given 7 years. Long-lived relationships are barely heard of; the occasional decade-long ones are much revered and looked upon as mythical creatures.

How much of gender differences come into play in the dynamics of relationships? Is love really all it takes for “forever”? In this interactive talk, you will be introduced- from the eye of research literature- to what contributes to relationship longevity and satisfaction; what separates straight relationships from queer ones.

You will be surprised… for what you think isn’t always what is.

Event : Your relationships and you
Date: 12th August 2007 (Sunday)
Time: 3 – 6:30pm
Venue: 72-13

OCWomen and Sayoni are pleased to bring you a groundbreaking workshop which focusses on our selves in relationships.

The workshop takes you through a light-hearted process of reflection on your past/present relationships with the aim of providing you with greater clarity and self awareness.

Understanding the types of relationships we have lived through and the dynamics in the partnerships we make, gives clarity to what we are like when we are in a relationship. Understanding ourselves in our relationships is key to truly living a relationship.

Clarity and honesty within is crucial when inspecting our numerous motivations and our modes of operation. Only then will we begin to know who we truly are and build the relationship that resonates us. There will also be interactive discussions on the types of relationships, the roles that we play in them and signs of negative relationships.

For an afternoon of enlightenment, come !

How do women who don’t pair up primarily to procreate view the expiry of their youth and ovaries? Ovidia’s short story takes a light-hearted look at how one woman who’s no longer entitled to free drink vouchers on Ladies’ Nights survives the stereotypes of middle age straying lovers and a (sterilised) ex-stray cat.

Yisheng’s offering, on the other hand, a deliberately absurd story about Vladimir Koh Nah Bay, a young man who is sexually attracted to only male senior citizens. Vladimir describes his youthful discovery of his urges, his rapid rise through the world of commerce due to his affairs, and his scandalous liaisons with unnamed political figures. The entire tale is told in the form of an official letter which forbids the reading of the story on the grounds of its disturbing effectiveness in converting people to be attracted to old men.

Licence from MDA pending.

Ng Yi-Sheng

Ng Yi-Sheng is a poet, playwright and writer. His first book of poetry, “Last Boy”, was published in 2006. His poems have also been published in the poetry anthologies “First Words”, “onewinged”, “No Other City” and “Love Gathers All”, as well as the journals “the2ndRule”, “QRLS”, “Softblow”, “Quarto”, “Asian Journal” and “Queer”. He won the SPH-Theatreworks 24-hour Playwriting Competition two years in a row, in 1998 and 1999, and has been published in the play anthology “5 under 25″. His performed plays include “Serve”, “Snake”, “Redhill Blues”, “Hungry”, “251″ and “Georgette: The Musical”. In 2006, he published a collection of gay, lesbian and bisexual Singaporeans’ coming out stories, “SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century”.

Ovidia Yu

Ovidia Yu is an award-winning female novelist, short-story writer and playwright. She is the recipient of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) Singapore Foundation Culture Award (1996), the National Arts Council (NAC) Young Artist Award (1996) and the Singapore Youth Award (1997). Her plays have been peformed locally and abroad.