Over 200 LGBTIs and their allies filled the historic former Parliamentary Debating Chamber at The Arts House where ContraDiction – the opening event of the month-long Indignation LGBT pride season – was held on Friday night.

The queer literary event featured 12 poets, writers and singer-musicians who performed LGBTI-themed poems, writings and songs in the very chambers of Singapore’s Old Parliament House where the laws of Singapore were passed from 1955 to 1999.

Under section 377A of Singapore’s penal code, a legacy from its British colonial past, homosexual acts are criminalized although the law is not ‘actively enforced.’

The festival was first held in 2005 as a community response to the banning of the annual Nation gay circuit party in Singapore in 2004. Each individual event during the festival is separately organized by different people or community groups as a gesture of solidarity.

Other highlights of the festival include a panel discussion with veteran gay activist Alex Au and Asst Prof Lynette J Chua, author of ‘Mobilizing Gay Singapore: Rights and Resistance in an Authoritarian State’ on Aug 3, Pink Picnic on Aug 9, Pink Run and A Long Table About Strategies for the Future on Aug 16.

For more details and a full line-up, visit http://indignationsg.wordpress.com