Martin Piper

Martin Piper is a prominent member of the Progress Singapore Party (PSP). He was featured in the party’s Hari Raya Puasa 2020 music video and is a consistent presence in the party’s walkabouts. Unlike members from most other opposition parties, he does not shy away from being a publicly vocal proponent for LGBT equality. While other opposition politicians like Pritam Singh of the Workers' Party skirt around issues such as the repeal of Section 377A, Piper has gone so far as to appeal to the High Commissioner of Canada to Singapore to hinge trade deals on Singapore’s willingness to eradicate the law which bans sex between male adults. Piper has also stood up for the rights of same-sex couples to adopt children, and is one of the administrators of the pro-LGBT rights Facebook page “Real Singaporeans defending the family and shared values” @truesingaporelove.

Piper is considered a prime choice to represent the PSP in the 2020 General Election, given his candour, outspokenness, and stellar career track record – he is the QA Head for Wealth and Private Banking at Standard Chartered Bank. With the Singapore Democratic Party and the Reform Party being the only opposition parties to date which have spoken up for LGBT rights in Singapore, it will be interesting to see how Piper can steer things forward if elected into parliament. 

=LGBT allyship=

Piper is a staunch straight ally of Singapore's LGBT community. He often refutes hate speech by anti-LGBT groups and counters homophobic or uninformed arguments made online by members of mainstream society. Owing to his relentless advocacy LGBT equality, he has been the target of doxxing and death threats by hate groups such as "We Are Against Pinkdot in Singapore".

Victim of doxxing
In 2018, Piper and his family were doxxed - his private details, including residential address, were shared widely by the hate group “We Are Against Pinkdot in Singapore”. Other anti-LGBT groups also shared the content around this time.

Eventually a court ordered the material to be taken down and an apology made to Piper, a screenshot of which is attached below:



Screen captures made by Piper at the time of the doxxing revealed participation from religious leaders like Nina Khong. "Teril Lucifere" was a pseudonymous alternate account used by the main perpetrator while his main account was blocked by Facebook. The screen grabs are appended below:



This involvement caused extra worry and stress for Piper's family because he felt a “religious leader” posed a greater risk of inciting his/her followers to do something unwise. Religious leaders being involved with the hate group increased the risk of discrimination:



Received death threat
On 17 May 2021, Piper posted the following message on his Facebook:

"Today is the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia. It's time I share my experience, to speak out so that others know they are not alone. About a year ago I received a physical death threat, it was violent and homophobic, which is crazy because I'm straight and married. The content left me without much doubt as to who sent it. There were other online threats around the same time. The police investigated, but nobody was charged.

A threat against me, is a threat against my family. It is a threat against society, by a small minority in Singapore intent on pushing their agenda of discrimination.

As part of the recent United Nations Human Rights periodic review, the Singapore government claimed they don't tolerate discrimination. But the fact is a well known Singapore based hate group called "We Are Against Pink Dot" still exists despite being active for years. The members of that group threaten and discriminate against others.

I stand up for human rights, I am against discrimination in all its forms. This is my painful story." 

=See also=
 * Singapore LGBT allies
 * Hate speech against LGBT people in Singapore

=References=

=Acknowledgements=

This article was written by Roy Tan.