Gay kiss during live Singapore news report escapes censors in historic first

Words: Alastair James; pictures: YouTube

In an amazing first a gay kiss between a couple has been shown on Singaporean TV, evading the state’s censors. 

The moment was captured during a live report from Beijing on the Winter Olympics and has since gone viral with versions appearing on platforms such as TikTok.

Singapore’s broadcasting code restricts anything LGBTQ-related and same-sex relationships are also prohibited. 

“Flawless”

Set to Sia’s ‘Unstoppable’ a version on Tik Tok sees the reporter speaking to the camera when in the background two men burst into frame mid-smooch. After a while, they break apart with one man turning to the camera with a look that truly says ‘And what?!’

@starrie7777 they can’t censor the ending pose 😍🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️🌈#singapore #channelnewsasia #cna #lgbt #lgbtq #gay #gaykiss #slay #beijing2022 #winterolympics ♬ Unstoppable – Sia

That Tik Tok was captioned “they can’t censor the ending pose” and you really just can’t.

One person joked in the comments, “he’s like, let me have the honour to make history for the LGBTQ community’,” while another wrote: “This is actually an act of revolution”. Yet another simply described the moment as “flawless”.

The person who uploaded the video said the video had gone viral on the Chinese social media Weibo. The LGBTQ community also faces discrimination in China.

Jean Chong, a co-founder of the LGBTQ rights group, Sayoni, told The Guardian: “Singapore is considered a developed country, but we are really backwards when it comes to LGBT rights.” 

A code to govern some content in Singapore states that “Programmes containing content on lifestyles such as homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexualism, transsexualism, transvestism, paedophilia and incest should be treated with utmost caution. Their treatment should not in any way promote, justify or encourage such lifestyles.”

The Attitude February issue is out now. Get your copy here.