S'pore holds first LGBTQ rally, Pink Dot, since gay sex decriminalisation

HUNDREDS of people wearing pink attended Singapore's annual "Pink Dot" LGBTQ rally on Saturday, the first to be held since the city-state decriminalised gay sex last year.

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Brandishing rainbow flags and sporting glittery makeup, participants gathered in a downtown park-the only place in Singapore where protests are allowed without any police permit.

"I'm celebrating today because it's been a really long fight," said Ernest Seah, a gay 58-year-old artist, while sitting on a pink inflatable couch. "And you know, it's great that love wins and the government understands that."

Singapore's parliament last year repealed a British colonial-era law that penalised sex between men with up to two years in jail, although the statute was not actively enforced.