Singapore's first public LGBT pride festival, IndigNation, took place during the month of August in 2005, with a second annual IndigNation in August 2006. Previous gay celebrations, exemplified by the Nation parties held annually in Singapore since 2001, were private commercial events held for LGBT recreation, but were also socio-political statements of significance in Singapore gay history and milestones in Singapore's human rights record.
History
Before 2001
Prior to 2001, all events held for LGBT people were private affairs not advertised or even made known to the general public. Most were held indoors, especially on Sunday nights at various mainstream discos which were eager to tap the pink dollar on a day when business from their straight patrons was slow. This phenomenon began in the early 1980s when the police started to turn a blind eye to men disco-dancing with each other, but not during the slow numbers, when they were cautioned by the managements of these venues to "behave". This was done to avoid complaints from heterosexual patrons who were initially invariably present.
By and by, from the mid-1980s onwards, the increasing numbers of gay men flocking to these discos on Sunday nights drove the straight clientele away and the managements were subsequently more inclined to tolerate homosexuals engaging in slow dancing and in tight embrace, as well.
Realising the untapped potential and pent-up demand for LGBT pride events, more and more mainstream discos advertised Sundays as "men's night" to draw the gay crowd. Venues such as Marmota, Niche, Legend and Studebaker's made a healthy profit from their calculated gamble. However, there was still an unmet need on all the other nights of the week.
This chasm was filled by pioneering entrepreneurs, especially Max Lim, who organised weekday private gay events at roving locations such as discos at Far East Plaza along Orchard Road and nightspots like Dancers - the Club and Forbidden city at Clarke Quay. Soon, other gay businessmen set up discos like Taboo and Why Not in Tanjong Pagar, which were exclusively gay on every night of the week.
Breaking out of the claustrophobic confines of indoor venues, Max Lim organised Singapore's first open-air private gay events advertised via leaflets and word-of-mouth at spacious venues such as the East Coast Lagoon and Big Splash. These were a roaring success as they were such a novelty by virtue of the incredible amount of space in which attendees could roam, with food, drink, dancing and individual events on offer. Ground-breaking as these were, they still remained private affairs, out of the radar of the mainstream community and media. As such, the full potential of advertising could not be harnessed, which limited the patronage at these events.
Nation
Nation
After establishing an English-language Web Portal, Fridae.com in the year 2000, scientist and entrepreneur Dr. Stuart Koe tested the socio-political boundaries and organised Singapore's first private, widely advertised public LGBT pride event. Not unexpectedly, along with the government's liberalising trend at the time, the party was given the green light by the police. Koe even managed to secure corporate sponsorship for the historic event. In a move to emphasise the LGBT community's loyalty to the Republic of Singapore, the party was held on 8 August 2001, one day before National Day and was named "Nation".
It was held at Sentosa's Fantasy Island. Over 1500 attendees celebrated both the eve of National Day, as well as their sense of community. Many flew in from Sydney, Malaysia, the United States and Hong Kong. The venue was divided into 3 zones: the Centro Boyz zone where the Miss Devastating drag competition was held, the Womyn's zone where no men were allowed for most of the evening, and the Chill Out area where guests could mingle and booths were set up to sell food, drinks, toys and to distribute flyers. 8 to 10 uniformed Police officers made their obligatory visit at around 11:30 p.m. to check that everything was all right and left without incident after 15 minutes. The mega-do also raised funds for local safe-sex group Action for AIDS (AFA) who received a portion of ticket sales.