news Why Southeast Asia’s LGBT community is finally coming out A supporter attends the annual Pink Dot event in support of the LGBT community in Singapore. Photo: AFP Ten years ago, as radio presenter Joshua Simon was about to share a photo and a video on Facebook, he felt nervous. The images were of him, his friends and hordes of other people enjoying the 2011 edition of Singapore's Pink Dot rally, a celebration of the city state's LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community. Since its inception in 2009 the rally has drawn thousands of supporters and sponsorship from tech giants Google and Facebook, despite gay sex being technically illegal in the country. Under Singapore law (albeit one the government has said it will not enforce), gay sex between men is punishable with a jail term of up to two years.