The late Lee Kuan Yew will go down in history as the founding prime minister of the increasingly successful city-state of Singapore. Back on September 16, 1963, Lee Kuan Yew declared the formation of the Federation of Malaysia. He then remained the ruling prime minister on August 9, 1965 when Singapore split from Malaysia and became its own Republic.
Now as the Independent reports, Lee Kuan Yew’s grandson has very publicly come out as gay.
Li Huanwu, a 31-year-old who works as a general manager, came out earlier this month through a feature with the magazine Out in Singapore. Together with his 27-year-old veterinarian partner named Yirui Heng, Li Huanwu not only came out of the closet officially, but he also asked others to support the annual Pink Dot event.
The Pink Dot event is Singapore’s most popular Pride and LGBTQ rights events that happen every year. The name comes from the event of attendees dressing in pink and gathering to form a “pink dot” to show support for inclusiveness, diversity, and the freedom to love.
Of course, Pink Dot holds many other events such as musical performances, a parade, educational seminars, stores/venues, and much more.
That said, this isn’t the first time that Li Huanwu has supported Pink Dot. He has openly spoken out for the need to support that LGBTQ Pride event on Facebook before.
That said, Li now has a bigger platform to support the event thanks to eyes being on him post-coming out.
As for his late grandfather, Singaporean founder Lee Kuan Yew would have been wholly supportive. Lee consistently stated his support of homosexuality during his time on Earth by saying it was a genetic variance and that homosexuals shouldn’t be persecuted.
As Lee Kuan Yew said at a PAP Youth Wing event in 2007:
“This business of homosexuality. It raises tempers all over the world, and even in America. If in fact it is true, and I’ve asked doctors this, that you are genetically born a homosexual, because that is the nature of genetic random transmission of genes. You can’t help it. So why should we criminalize it?
“But there is such a strong inhibition in all societies – Christianity, Islam, even the Hindu, Chinese societies. And we’re now confronted with a persisting aberration, but is it an aberration? It’s a genetic variation.
“So what do we do? I think we pragmatically adjust…”
h/t: The Independent, OUT in Singapore
