photoSingapore: Asia Pink Awards 2014, the 1st regional LGBTQI Awards event, is to take place in Singapore despite anti gay laws in the country.

On March 16, the Awards will announce 10 recipients from the individuals’ category and 3 recipients from the corporate category chosen by a distinguished panel of judges.

The event will take place in a private gallery, named Dream Factory, reports therealsingapore.com.

This is despite Singapore retaining a British colonial-era law Section 377A Section of Singapore’s Penal Code that criminalizes sex between men, punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years.

“I’m excited to have the event here. The Awards shows that anyone can stand up and fight for what’s right because these recipients come from all walks of life; politician, lawyer, social worker, activist, pastor, celebrity,”  said Ines Ligron, a French fashion and beauty expert who sponsored the venue for the event.

The event will also be live-broadcasted on Moovz.com, a global LGBT social-networking platform.

There will be six well-established LGBTQI organizations from all over the region who will be speaking at the pre-Awards seminar which takes place in the afternoon prior to the Awards.

There will be participation from Shanghai PRIDE (China), TAPCPR (Taiwan), Community Business (Hong Kong), Free Community Church (Singapore) etc. Through the seminar, the event will also encourage exchange of experiences, lessons learnt and best practices in terms of LGBTQI rights movement in Asian countries.

Already, many corporate allies are also confirming their attendance to celebrate “an inclusive Asia” via the Awards platform, including Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Fred Perry, VISA, Unilever, BP Oil etc.

The Awards Ceremony is also a fund-raising event for Action For AIDS (AFA) Singapore. The proceeded will be used to support HIV/AIDS Patients who can’t afford medication bills.

Hiro Mizuhara, Associate Publisher/Creative Director of ELEMENT said, “This is a great opportunity to network and witness a milestone in the Asian LGBTQI community. The Awards is primarily a platform to pull focus and for the LGBTQI Asian community to remain salient in the public sphere.”

The event seeks to recognize entities – individuals and businesses, regardless of their sexual orientation – that have played a key role in pushing for an inclusive workplace culture, and as well as promoting social diversity and acceptance in the Asian society at large.

Source: therealsingapore.com