Ian McKellen, visiting Singapore with the Royal Shakespeare Company's world tour of Shakespeare's “King Lear” and Chekhov's “The Seagull”, told a radio station there that Singapore should drop its laws against homosexuality.
McKellen told the Class 95 radio station: “Just treat us with respect like we treat everybody else and the world will be a better place, I think. Coming to Singapore where unfortunately you've still got those dreadful laws that we British left behind… it's about time Singapore grew up, I think, and realised that gay people are here to stay.”
He also told Channel NewsAsia: “I have been looking for a gay bar (in Singapore) if there is such a thing… so that's what I have been looking for.”
Over the weekend, hundreds attended an unprecedented forum in Singapore to debate the decriminalization of homosexual acts. According to Channel NewsAsia, “Most put up their hands in agreement when asked by the moderator of the forum, organised by theatre group W!ld Rice, if section 377A of the penal code which criminalises homosexual acts ought to be repealed.”
