History of Singapore gay venues

In Singapore's early colonial history, her British masters conveniently imported the Indian Penal Code drafted in their largest colony in the 1860s and renamed it the Straits Settlements Penal Code in 1871 to effectively govern the Straits Settlements of which Singapore was a part. It came into effect in Singapore, Penang and Malacca on 16 September 1872. The new Penal Code included a Section 377 which criminalised "carnal intercourse against the order of nature". The latter was interpreted by the courts to mean any form of penetrative sex which did not have the potential of procreation. This included not only homosexual sex, but also oral and anal sex between heterosexual couples. In 1938, Section 377A was introduced by the legislature into the Straits Settlements Penal Code to criminalise all non-penetrative sexual acts between men, eg. mutual masturbation and frottage.

Southern Chinese and Indians were imported as indentured labourers to oil the gears of the British entrepôt economy. Most arrived without wives or girlfriends (the male to female ratio of the Chinese before the 1920s being as high as 15:1), so they relieved their sexual tensions with prostitutes or other men. It is thought that the first places where homosexual men, especially Chinese coolies, could chance upon each other were the public toilets and back alleys near the bustling Singapore River, predominantly along the right bank (looking downstream) of Boat Quay. 

Public toilets, especially along the Singapore River where their density was highest as the area was the busiest hive of activity on the island since its early history, were thought to be the first local venues where gay men could meet and therefore hold the ignominious distinction of being the cradle of the nascent gay community in Singapore.   The most well known one was the rectangular structure with the most unique location of any toilet in Singapore - it was situated smack in the middle of North Canal Road and South Canal Road at their junction with Chulia Street, next to OCBC building. It was known colloquially in Hokkien as "sang chai tang" and lay next to the Hock Lee Bus Terminus where one- and two-digit number bus services eg. 4, 8 and 19, ended their journey. Its proximity to Hong Lim Park may also explain why the latter became Singapore first well known cruising ground and the first Singaporean one to be listed in the Spartacus International Gay Guide.

The toilet was not only used by bus drivers and conductors after their shift, but also by alighting passengers and homosexual men from around the island. When Hong Lim Park became a well known gay cruising area shortly before the 1950s, homosexuals had an additional venue to adjourn to after visiting the toilet. The back alleys parallel to the right bank of Boat Quay (looking downstream) also became popular nocturnal haunts.

The proximity of Hong Lim Park to Boat Quay may explain why the former became notorious as the first internationally known gay cruising rendezvous in Singapore to be listed in the Spartacus International Gay Guide, the most widely read gay tourist publication in the world.

=See also=
 * Singapore gay venues: historical

=References=

=Acknowledgements=

This article was written by Roy Tan.