Pink Saturday...

Saturday afternoon turned out to be a very "pink" one.

After attending Jon's surprise bday party, Richie, Mon, Chris, Ian and I trooped to Hong Lim Park in Clark Quay to join Singaporeans, PRs, and fellow foreigners for Pink Dot 2011.

I've heard about the event last year (or was it two years ago?!) and back then, I thought to myself how great it must be to be able to go.

So I was extremely happy to be among the ten-thousand strong who headed to Hong Lim Park yesterday to celebrate diversity.

The gang and I got to the venue past 4PM. It wasn't difficult to find the venue. As soon as we got out of the MRT station, all we had to do was follow the groups of people in pink.

And when we exited the station, we were greeted with everything pink - pink shirts, pink wigs, pink picnic mats, pink umbrellas, pink drinks, pink everything. Nice, nice.

The afternoon program went smoothly. There were colorful performances from local artists. Then as 6PM approached, the program hosts called on Singaporeans and PRs to the center of the park to form the Pink Dot.

Meanwhile, foreigner supporters and friends stayed on the sidelines to watch. Unfortunately, the park policy indicates that only Singaporeans and PRs could join the formation.

I was just happy to be there and be one with the LGBT community of Singapore and the straight supporter friends.

At that point, it wasn't about one's gender. It was about everyone's belief that everyone has or should have the freedom to love.

The event closed with the community singing of The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

One good takeaway I had from participating in Pink Dot 2011 is becoming aware that there are so many local LGBTQ resources and support groups. Many of these are run by volunteers, which is really quite awesome.

Now that I have an idea about the local LGBTQ community, I'm looking at ways at how to get involved. It would be a good venue to meet people, to keep myself busy, and to just be able to do something.