"I Have An Agenda" - Speech for Opening of IndigNation 2013
Good afternoon everyone, and welcome to the opening of the ninth season of IndigNation - Faith in the Future.
i am Miak Siew.
So before we start i have to first come out - i am in kind of an odd situation. i am gay, and i am Christian. And not only a Christian, but an ordained minister in the church. So to the Christians, they think I am out to convert them gay, and to the LGBT community, many think I am out to convert them to Christianity. So I'll be upfront. I am not out to convert anyone. Today, I am the chairperson of the organizing committee for indignation, which I have been involved in since 2006.
Given that some people have asked me about these year's theme "Faith in the Future," I think I need to shed a little light how we got there - the theme this year emerged over very quickly during one of our meetings - someone suggested it - I think it was Weijie or Mathia or Tania - and quite unanimously we thought it was a good idea - it played on the word "faith" because our meeting was held not long after the incident when Pastor Lawrence Khong attracted a lot of attention with his statement to the ESM Goh Chok Tong.
First, I have a lot of thank yous to read out. IndigNation cannot happen without a lot of people's involvement, generosity, pouring in their time, energy and resources into this. We want to thank 72-13 for the venue today, and for the closing day events Southeast Gaysia and Contradiction, Artistry Cafe for the venue for I Will Survive with Music, Select Books for hosting Gaylien Invasion, Free Community Church for hosting Transcending Gender; Fridae, IS Magazine and Beat Around the Bush for the media coverage; to CT and K Camden for the financial support; and to Gary and Kenneth of Ant Farms Design for the designing of the publicity and the candies; to Sayoni, OC Women, Purple Alliance, SgRainbow, Bear Project, YoungOutHere for their participation and involvement in the planning process; to thank you to the other Queer LGBT groups which have provided support, companionship on this process - People Like Us, Pelangi Pride Center, Pink Dot, Transgender Alliance, Bear Project, SgRainbow, SinGaypore, and my apologies to the groups which I have left out. And finally a big thank you to the volunteers who are helping out - Welton and Chase, Lip Sin, Hafiz. Thank you.
I have an agenda. The spies amongst you please take note. I have an agenda, and I will be open about it. I don't believe that I need to hide this agenda - not like some groups who operate clandestinely and infiltrate organizations and mount hostile takeovers - we operate openly. We declare our intentions. We have nothing to hide.
I have an agenda for a future that LGBT people will no longer live in fear. Fear of being rejected by their loved ones - kicked out of home, from the people dearest to them. Fear of being bullied and called names, and even fear of physical assault. Fear of being discriminated - at the workplace, at public places, anywhere. Fear of losing their jobs simply because of who they are.
I have an agenda because without a road map of where we are heading, we will just be passively allowing things to happen to us. We would just be reacting. And up to now, most of our activism has been about reacting. I must recognize many amongst you today are doing your part - be it speaking up on behalf of the LGBT community, making your presence felt on a personal and a community level, or organizing the community in big and small ways - all of you are putting your money where your mouth is. To all of you - thank you for your work and your sacrifice.
But we are often doing things in individual silos - hoping that somehow we would have a collective impact to change things. I think we can do better. While we are doing different things in different ways, sometimes disagreeing on how to do it, we need to have some sort of a master plan, some sort of big picture view instead of hoping that all the pieces will fall in the right place. We need to be coordinated. We need to all have a glimpse of the future so we know what we need to do now.
We also need to recognize that we are all interconnected. Too often, we are divided amongst ourselves. I have seen LGBT movement in the US, in an effort to appear more mainstream to the straight community, left the Transgender community out of the equation. In 2007, in an effort to get the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed, transgender protections were removed from the legislation, claiming they wouldn't have enough votes to pass an inclusive ENDA. T was thrown under the bus. It's just LGB. "We will come back for you." After we get our rights.
Will we do the same when our time comes? Will we try to make ourselves more mainstream, more acceptable, more Disney-family-friendly so that some of us can fit in? And those who can't fit in, "We will come back for you?" Or will we stand together, and rise or fall together?
While we are proud to support Gary and Kenneth in their challenge of 377A, we are quite quiet about Tan Eng Hong's challenge that gave them legal standing to make that challenge. Alfian Sa'at said "Queerness is radial, not sanitized, not commodified."
Will we see that the label Queer actually isn't a label at all. It is moving past labels, refusing to be put in neat little categories and seeing each human being as a human being. Queer, not just an umbrella term to cover LGBTIQAA, but the erasure of these categories. We are all a little bit queer.
Five months before he was assassinated, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to hold public office in California, gave the "Hope Speech" in the 1978 San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. Some of you may have heard it before. "And the young gay people in the Altoona, Pennsylvanias, the Richmond, Minnesotas, who are coming out and hear Anita Bryant on television and her story. The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great." Go search for it on Youtube. What many people didn't know is that in that speech, Harvey Milk spoke about racists policies and on the closing of the South African consulate - this is during the time of Apartheid.
He didn't just speak up for LGBT rights. He spoke up for human rights. He didn't see rights as these are my rights, these are your rights - these are rights I will fight for, but these aren't my business, they have nothing to do with me.
This is not about repackaging LGBT rights as human rights - though LGBT rights are human rights. It is about recognizing our responsibility to address the protection of other marginalized communities, communities that do not have power, communities that do not have a voice, communities who are not heard - the migrant workers, the PLHIV (people living with HIV), the sex workers... We have to address our own issues within our community - racism, classism, elitism, sexism, ableism, ageism.
We should not throw anyone under the bus.
We have an agenda
as one united people - regardless of race, language, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, social economic status or nationality
to build a future
based on justice and equality and love
to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress
not just for our nation, but for all people.
So I would like to begin this panel presentation - this group of individuals invited to give their glimpse into the future, and speak about their hopes and their dreams for the future. So we can imagine a future that we have faith in.
Vanessa Ho, project coordinator for Project X, a sex worker outreach group, and one of the organizers of Singapore's "SlutWalk" movement.
Jean Chong, member of People Like Us, one of the founders of Sayoni, and a long time friend. 2 years ago, Jean was part of a 3-woman team from Sayoni to the Conference to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) at the United Nations in New York to highlight the discrimination experienced by lesbian, bisexual and transgender women in Singapore. They brought up the issue of how 377A does not affect only men, but also women in Singapore.
Tricia Leong, the out-est, loudest trans activist in Singapore and one of the Sisters in Solidarity.
Tania De Rozario, an artist, writer and curator interested in issues of gender, sexuality and queer desire. She is the co-founder/curator of EtiquetteSG, a multidisciplinary collective focusing on women's issues, and is the author of Tender Delirium, published by Math Paper Press."
Alex Au, founding member of People Like Us, the person behind "Yawning Bread," one of my mentors who helped shape my activist life.
Dr Vincent Wijeysingha, is a politician and civil activist from Singapore. I talked about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to hold public office in California. Vincent is the first openly gay politician in Singapore - and I hope that he would be the first openly gay politician in public office in Singapore.
Here's how we are going to do this - We would have these six speakers speak about the topics there were assigned, and then we would throw it open to the floor..
At talks and seminars, and presentations, we often think that those seated here - the panel - have all the answers. I don't think so. I think we need to brainstorm, share our thoughts, respond, critique, refine ideas and work together to come up with better ideas - what we want to do, how we can do it, and how we can work together.
We have been talking at you. Now you get to talk back.
i am Miak Siew.
So before we start i have to first come out - i am in kind of an odd situation. i am gay, and i am Christian. And not only a Christian, but an ordained minister in the church. So to the Christians, they think I am out to convert them gay, and to the LGBT community, many think I am out to convert them to Christianity. So I'll be upfront. I am not out to convert anyone. Today, I am the chairperson of the organizing committee for indignation, which I have been involved in since 2006.
Given that some people have asked me about these year's theme "Faith in the Future," I think I need to shed a little light how we got there - the theme this year emerged over very quickly during one of our meetings - someone suggested it - I think it was Weijie or Mathia or Tania - and quite unanimously we thought it was a good idea - it played on the word "faith" because our meeting was held not long after the incident when Pastor Lawrence Khong attracted a lot of attention with his statement to the ESM Goh Chok Tong.
First, I have a lot of thank yous to read out. IndigNation cannot happen without a lot of people's involvement, generosity, pouring in their time, energy and resources into this. We want to thank 72-13 for the venue today, and for the closing day events Southeast Gaysia and Contradiction, Artistry Cafe for the venue for I Will Survive with Music, Select Books for hosting Gaylien Invasion, Free Community Church for hosting Transcending Gender; Fridae, IS Magazine and Beat Around the Bush for the media coverage; to CT and K Camden for the financial support; and to Gary and Kenneth of Ant Farms Design for the designing of the publicity and the candies; to Sayoni, OC Women, Purple Alliance, SgRainbow, Bear Project, YoungOutHere for their participation and involvement in the planning process; to thank you to the other Queer LGBT groups which have provided support, companionship on this process - People Like Us, Pelangi Pride Center, Pink Dot, Transgender Alliance, Bear Project, SgRainbow, SinGaypore, and my apologies to the groups which I have left out. And finally a big thank you to the volunteers who are helping out - Welton and Chase, Lip Sin, Hafiz. Thank you.
I have an agenda. The spies amongst you please take note. I have an agenda, and I will be open about it. I don't believe that I need to hide this agenda - not like some groups who operate clandestinely and infiltrate organizations and mount hostile takeovers - we operate openly. We declare our intentions. We have nothing to hide.
I have an agenda for a future that LGBT people will no longer live in fear. Fear of being rejected by their loved ones - kicked out of home, from the people dearest to them. Fear of being bullied and called names, and even fear of physical assault. Fear of being discriminated - at the workplace, at public places, anywhere. Fear of losing their jobs simply because of who they are.
I have an agenda because without a road map of where we are heading, we will just be passively allowing things to happen to us. We would just be reacting. And up to now, most of our activism has been about reacting. I must recognize many amongst you today are doing your part - be it speaking up on behalf of the LGBT community, making your presence felt on a personal and a community level, or organizing the community in big and small ways - all of you are putting your money where your mouth is. To all of you - thank you for your work and your sacrifice.
But we are often doing things in individual silos - hoping that somehow we would have a collective impact to change things. I think we can do better. While we are doing different things in different ways, sometimes disagreeing on how to do it, we need to have some sort of a master plan, some sort of big picture view instead of hoping that all the pieces will fall in the right place. We need to be coordinated. We need to all have a glimpse of the future so we know what we need to do now.
We also need to recognize that we are all interconnected. Too often, we are divided amongst ourselves. I have seen LGBT movement in the US, in an effort to appear more mainstream to the straight community, left the Transgender community out of the equation. In 2007, in an effort to get the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) passed, transgender protections were removed from the legislation, claiming they wouldn't have enough votes to pass an inclusive ENDA. T was thrown under the bus. It's just LGB. "We will come back for you." After we get our rights.
Will we do the same when our time comes? Will we try to make ourselves more mainstream, more acceptable, more Disney-family-friendly so that some of us can fit in? And those who can't fit in, "We will come back for you?" Or will we stand together, and rise or fall together?
While we are proud to support Gary and Kenneth in their challenge of 377A, we are quite quiet about Tan Eng Hong's challenge that gave them legal standing to make that challenge. Alfian Sa'at said "Queerness is radial, not sanitized, not commodified."
Will we see that the label Queer actually isn't a label at all. It is moving past labels, refusing to be put in neat little categories and seeing each human being as a human being. Queer, not just an umbrella term to cover LGBTIQAA, but the erasure of these categories. We are all a little bit queer.
Five months before he was assassinated, Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to hold public office in California, gave the "Hope Speech" in the 1978 San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade. Some of you may have heard it before. "And the young gay people in the Altoona, Pennsylvanias, the Richmond, Minnesotas, who are coming out and hear Anita Bryant on television and her story. The only thing they have to look forward to is hope. And you have to give them hope. Hope for a better world, hope for a better tomorrow, hope for a better place to come to if the pressures at home are too great." Go search for it on Youtube. What many people didn't know is that in that speech, Harvey Milk spoke about racists policies and on the closing of the South African consulate - this is during the time of Apartheid.
He didn't just speak up for LGBT rights. He spoke up for human rights. He didn't see rights as these are my rights, these are your rights - these are rights I will fight for, but these aren't my business, they have nothing to do with me.
This is not about repackaging LGBT rights as human rights - though LGBT rights are human rights. It is about recognizing our responsibility to address the protection of other marginalized communities, communities that do not have power, communities that do not have a voice, communities who are not heard - the migrant workers, the PLHIV (people living with HIV), the sex workers... We have to address our own issues within our community - racism, classism, elitism, sexism, ableism, ageism.
We should not throw anyone under the bus.
We have an agenda
as one united people - regardless of race, language, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, social economic status or nationality
to build a future
based on justice and equality and love
to achieve happiness, prosperity and progress
not just for our nation, but for all people.
So I would like to begin this panel presentation - this group of individuals invited to give their glimpse into the future, and speak about their hopes and their dreams for the future. So we can imagine a future that we have faith in.
Vanessa Ho, project coordinator for Project X, a sex worker outreach group, and one of the organizers of Singapore's "SlutWalk" movement.
Jean Chong, member of People Like Us, one of the founders of Sayoni, and a long time friend. 2 years ago, Jean was part of a 3-woman team from Sayoni to the Conference to eliminate all forms of discrimination against women (CEDAW) at the United Nations in New York to highlight the discrimination experienced by lesbian, bisexual and transgender women in Singapore. They brought up the issue of how 377A does not affect only men, but also women in Singapore.
Tricia Leong, the out-est, loudest trans activist in Singapore and one of the Sisters in Solidarity.
Tania De Rozario, an artist, writer and curator interested in issues of gender, sexuality and queer desire. She is the co-founder/curator of EtiquetteSG, a multidisciplinary collective focusing on women's issues, and is the author of Tender Delirium, published by Math Paper Press."
Alex Au, founding member of People Like Us, the person behind "Yawning Bread," one of my mentors who helped shape my activist life.
Dr Vincent Wijeysingha, is a politician and civil activist from Singapore. I talked about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man to hold public office in California. Vincent is the first openly gay politician in Singapore - and I hope that he would be the first openly gay politician in public office in Singapore.
Here's how we are going to do this - We would have these six speakers speak about the topics there were assigned, and then we would throw it open to the floor..
At talks and seminars, and presentations, we often think that those seated here - the panel - have all the answers. I don't think so. I think we need to brainstorm, share our thoughts, respond, critique, refine ideas and work together to come up with better ideas - what we want to do, how we can do it, and how we can work together.
We have been talking at you. Now you get to talk back.