Happy 2010! Event Day moved to 16 Jan!

Hi everyone

Wishing you good health and happiness today and in 2010!

We will be open for "business" on Sat 9 Jan from 4-8pm so do come by and say hi!

Also, we will be shifting our Event Day to 16 Jan so that people won't need to choose between attending the PPC event day and OC's 10th Anniversary (Happy 10th OC!) celebration.

Details of event day to come out soon!

Take care!

Taking a Short Break until 9 Jan 2010

Hi everyone

PPC is taking a short break over the festive season and will re-open on Sat, 9 Jan 2010 from 4-8pm at 41A Neil Road.

We will also be holding an event on the day (details to come soon!)

Wishing all you compliments of the festive season, and good health, joy and love in the coming year!

Happy Holidays!

The PPC Team

Be Our Facebook Friend!

Hi everyone!

We've received word that some of you find it "lehcheh" (inconvenient) to join our Facebook Group/Fan Page because it's something that you won't check often, and so, you have requested that we create a Facebook ID and you can be our friend.

So, we've done that! Search Pelangi Pride Centre and you'll see us.

Looking forward to be "friends"!

Take care!

The PPC Team

Borrow Books on Sat 19 Dec and get them till 9 Jan!

Hi everyone

If you borrow books on Sat 19 Dec, you will get to keep them till 9 Jan! This is because we will be taking a break on 26 Dec and 2 Jan, so you get a "free" extension!

Grab your books on Sat 19 Dec! We will be open from 4-8pm.

Cheers and Happy Holidays!

The PPC Team

Getting to the new PPC@NeilRoad

Hi all

A few of you have asked for directions on getting to the new PPC@Neil Road.

Here's the nearest public transport information:

Nearest MRT Stations:

Outram Park Interchange (NE3) – NEL Station (300 Eu Tong Sen St) 1.05km
Outram Park Interchange (EW16) – (10 Outram Rd) 1.2km

Nearest Bus Stops:

After Kreta Ayer Rd – Bus 166, 197, 61 (0.94km)
Opposite Pearl’s Centre – 2, 12, 33, 54, 63, 124, 143, 147, 190, 520, 851, 961, 961C, 970, 124A, 147A, CT8, CT18, CT28 (1.02km)
Pearl’s Centre – 54, 124, 143, 147, 166, 190, 520, 851, 970, CT8, CT28 (1.05km)

Our address is 41A Neil Road (up the single flight of wooden steps) and we are open every Saturday from 4-8pm.

See you soon!

To Live is Better Than to Die

12 of December 2009 @ PELANGI PRIDE CENTRE

In Commemoration of World AIDS Day, Pelangi Pride Centre presents - "To Live is Better Than to Die"

Details at a Glance
Date: 12 December 2009 (Sat)
Time: 4pm
Venue: Pelangi Pride Centre
Cost per person: $6 (cost of 2 soft drinks and finger food)

RSVP: This event is by invitation only.
As there are LIMITED seats, prior registration is required.
To get an invitation - please email [pelangipridecentre at yahoo dot com] with your name (in full), contact number, the name/s of your guests.

---

To Live is Better Than to Die

While the AIDS epidemic began to gradually subside in the West in the 1990s, it tragically exploded in many other parts of the world. At the dawn of the 21st century, the village of Wenlou in Henan province, Central China was especially hard hit, with 60 percent of its people testing positive for the HIV virus, largely due to faulty preventative measures taken during the government-directed blood drives.

Chinese documentary filmmaker, Chen Weijun spent a year living with a family in Wenlou who were struggling with the onslaught of the disease -- only one member of the household has been spared from HIV. To Live is Better Than to Die is a document not only of their battle with AIDS but also their resolve to make the most of their lives.

http://www.allmovie .com/work/ to-live-is- better-than- to-die-280939

PPC re-opens next Sat (28 Nov) from 4-8pm

Hi all

Thanks to all the awesome help from our volunteers and the bears, we were able to move into the new space without a hitch... and within 4hrs!

We are very excited and happy to announce that we will re-open at our new location (41A Neil Road) next Saturday, 28 Nov, 4-8pm.

Do come by and visit us! We're REALLY looking forward to meeting you!

Need to know what is happening at PPC? Keep in touch with the following methods:

Visit pelangipridecentre.org

Join our Facebook Group or Fan Page

Keep up-to-date with our Twitter updates

Take care!

PPC is moving to our new location this Saturday (21 Nov)

Hi everyone

Sorry for the silence but good news! We will be moving to our new location this Saturday - 21 Nov and will be open for business shortly! Our new address is 41A Neil Road. :)

If you're on Facebook, you can get updates via our Fan Page or Group, or you can join our Yahoogroups mailing list and now... also follow us on Twitter (pelangipridectr). Of course, our website (to be updated soon) will also carry information.

Take care and we'll be in touch shortly!

PPC will be closed temporary

Our host DYMK is moving to a new location. PPC will be moving with DYMK.

In order to facilitate the move and for us to settle down in the new location, we will be closed from 29 Aug 2009 onwards through Sept 2009.

We will notify everyone of the new location and opening dates once we are settled.

Please check back for the latest updates!

Library not open on 8 August

The library will not be open on the 8 August, the eve of the National Day.

We wish Singapore and all residents a happy National Day holiday.

There Is No Name for This

18 of July 2009 @ PELANGI PRIDE CENTRE

Pelangi Pride Centre presents - "There Is No Name For This"

Details at a Glance
Date: 18 July 2009 (Sat)
Time: 4pm
Venue: Pelangi Pride Centre
Cost per person: $6 (cost of 2 soft drinks and finger food)

RSVP: This event is by invitation only.
As there are LIMITED seats, prior registration is required.
To get an invitation - please email [pelangipridecentre at yahoo dot com] with your name (in full), contact number, the name/s of your guests.

Note: Thanks to Miak for making this event possible!

---

There is no Name for This

There is No Name For This explores the joys and difficulties of coming out across cultural and language barriers among Chinese and Chinese-American lesbians, gays and bisexuals. The first video to examine the lack of vocabulary to explain issues of identity in Chinese languages, There is No Name For This introduces 21 individuals in various stages of coming out and how their family and friends have responded to them.

Dir. Ming-Yuen S. Ma, Cianna P. Stewart and Jessica Yu.
Running time: 49 minutes.
Prod. Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center.

Saturday, 13 June 09: Screening - Coming Out, Coming Home

13 of June 2009 @ PELANGI PRIDE CENTRE

Pelangi Pride Centre presents - "Coming Out, Coming Home"

Details at a Glance
Date: 13 June 2009 (Sat)
Time: 4pm
Venue: Pelangi Pride Centre
Cost per person: $6 (cost of 2 soft drinks and finger food)
RSVP: This event is by invitation only.
As there are LIMITED seats, prior registration is required.
For an invite - please email [pelangipridecentre at yahoo dot com] with your name (in full), contact number, the name/s of your guests.

Note: Thanks to Miak for making this event possible!

---

Coming Out, Coming Home

Asian & Pacific Islander Family Stories, a 44-minute color video featuring interviews of one Filipino and three Chinese families and a dialogue among parents of these gay children. Speaking in English, the families talk about shame, grief, love, growth, the importance of family and how they handled their conflicts around homosexuality.

No event day in May :)

Hi everyone

Just to update you that we will be taking an "event day hiatus" in May. (Tired lah...)

In the meantime, the library will be open on Saturdays, 4-8pm.

We will be back with event day in June so please do check in with us closer to the date!

Take care and have a great week ahead!
Charm on behalf of the PPC Team

PPC will be closed on 9 May

Hi everyone

PPC will be taking a break on 9 May (Vesak Day public holiday):)

We will be open all other Saturdays in May and our event day (details out shortly!) will be on 23 May.

Please take note!

Take care and see you soon!
Charm on behalf of the PPC Team

Saturday, 4 April 09: Screening - A Very British Sex Scandal

4 of April 2009 @ PELANGI PRIDE CENTRE

Pelangi Pride Centre presents - "A Very British Sex Scandal"

Details at a Glance
Date: 4 April 2009 (Sat)
Time: 4pm
Venue: Pelangi Pride Centre
Cost per person: $6 (cost of 2 soft drinks and finger food)
RSVP: This event is by invitation only.
As there are LIMITED seats, prior registration is required.
For an invite - please email [pelangipridecentre at yahoo dot com] with your name (in full), contact number, the name/s of your guests.

---

A Very British Sex Scandal
See also: Review in Chinese from Fridae 汇乐

In January 1954, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, a 28-year-old aristocratic socialite, and his friend Peter Wildeblood, the newly-appointed diplomatic correspondent of The Daily Mail, were arrested after a concerted effort by the police to ensnare them for homosexual offences. The subsequent case scandalised high society, electrified the nation and was to change the course of British history.

Mixing drama with documentary testimony, this moving film re-lives the extraordinary events of the trial and paints a vivid picture of what it was like to be gay in 50s Britain. With contributions from 50s figures including Lord Montagu and veteran gay rights campaigners Allan Horsfall and Michael Brown, the film also dramatises the meetings of the Wolfenden Committee whose landmark recommendations led to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Britain - forty years ago.

Homosexuals persecuted

In the 1950s, relaxed wartime attitudes to sex had begun to tighten and homosexual acts, even if conducted in private, could lead to lengthy jail sentences. Men were persecuted by the police, hounded by the press and faced the threat of blackmail by unscrupulous sexual partners. Amid the paranoia of the Cold War, as many as 1,000 gay men were locked up in Britain's prisons every year.

Where some older gay men discovered a vibrant underworld with pubs and clubs, secret codes and language, and plenty of opportunity for sex, others describe experiences of confusion and isolation. The film's contributors also explain how homosexuality was rarely, if ever, mentioned in public and, if it was suspected, they could find themselves at the mercy of well meaning doctors and psychiatrists, prescribing electric shock therapy or oestrogen tablets in an attempt to cure" them of their 'disease.'

Montagu Trial

During the Montagu trial Peter Wildeblood caused a media sensation by publicly admitting his homosexuality in court. The authorities had got their men, but their prosecution provoked a great wave of sympathy from press and public alike. After the trial reached its sensational climax, it became clear that things had to change. The law was out of step with public opinion which expressed widespread sympathy for the convicted men - Wildeblood, Lord Montagu and Michael Pitt Rivers.

Wolfenden Committee

Wildeblood's determination to raise awareness of the plight of homosexuals resulted in him writing a groundbreaking book, Against the Law. But in 1955 he gave what was, for him, his most important contribution to the debate about homosexuality. His appearance before the Wolfenden Committee defended the rights of homosexuals to a selection of public figures, most of whom knew nothing about the subject. In a pivotal moment in gay history, Wildeblood advocated changes which, although conservative by today's standards, were revolutionary for the time.

Saturday, 14 March 2009: An Afternoon with Loretta Chen

14 of March 2009 @ PELANGI PRIDE CENTRE

Pelangi Pride Centre presents - an afternoon with Loretta Chen

Details at a Glance
Date: 14 March 2009 (Sat)
Time: 4pm
Venue: Pelangi Pride Centre
Cost per person: $6 (cost of 2 soft drinks and finger food)
RSVP: This event is by invitation only.
LIMITED to only 30 pax, prior registration is required.
For an invite - please email [pelangipridecentre at yahoo dot com] with your name (in full), contact number, the name/s of your guests, by 13th Mar 2009.

---

No stranger to controversy and known for her out-and-about bravado (having paved the way to the Repeal 377A campaign after her infamous questions to the Minister Mentor), Artistic Director of Zebra Crossing Productions, Loretta Chen, sheds her usual zany, bubbly demeanour and shares with us her close brush with death, suicide and depression in an intimate, no-holds barred session. She will share her journey to recovery after losing her partner to suicide 7 years ago and will share with you her tips for getting better and stronger every day.

From London to Los Angeles, Loretta has counselled youths and worked with adults through their times of crisis and invites you to an afternoon of casual chatter and friendly camaraderie amongst the comfort and security of people like us.

For more information on Loretta Chen, log on to http://www.loretta-chen.com and http://www.zebracrossing.com.sg/

So do make a date with us March 14 ...... For an invite -please email [pelangipridecentre at yahoo dot com] with your name (in full), contact number, the name/s of your guests.

Saturday, 28 February 09: Documentary Screening - The Times of Harvey Milk (Re-screening)

28 of February 2009 @ PELANGI PRIDE CENTRE

Pelangi Pride Centre presents - "THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK" (Re-screening)
( this is not the Gus Van Sant 2008 "Milk")

Due to a technical fault at our previous screening, we will be re-screening "The Times of Harvey Milk".
Our apologies to our friends who came last Saturday - this one's on us. :)
(please do RSVP so that we can add you to our invite list)

Details at a Glance
Date: 28 February 2009 (Sat)
Time: 4pm
Venue: Pelangi Pride Centre
Cost per person: $6 (cost of 2 soft drinks and finger food)
friends who came last Saturday - this one's on us. :)

RSVP: This event is by invitation only.
LIMITED to only 30 pax, prior registration is required.
For an invite - please email [pelangipridecentre at yahoo dot com] with your name (in full), contact number, the name/s of your guests, by 27th Feb 2009.

---

The Times of Harvey Milk

The film was produced after Milk's death using original interviews, exclusive documentary footage, news reports, and archival footage, so that Milk is credited as the lead (posthumously). Other politicians including San Francisco mayor George Moscone (who was assassinated with Milk), and Moscone's successor and now United States Senator Dianne Feinstein appear in archival footage. The movie opens with a tearful Feinstein delivering her announcement to the media that Moscone and Milk had been assassinated by Dan White.

Also featured in the film is then-schoolteacher Tom Ammiano, who has been a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors since 1994, and was recently elected to the California State Assembly.

The film was narrated by Harvey Fierstein with an original score by Mark Isham.

The film was directed by Rob Epstein and produced Richard Schmiechen. Richard Schmiechen died from AIDS several years after the completion of the film.

Saturday, 14 February 09: Documentary Screening - The Times of Harvey Milk

14 of February 2009 @ PELANGI PRIDE CENTRE

Screening of "THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK"
( this is not the Gus Van Sant 2008 "Milk")

Details at a Glance
Date: 14 February 2009 (Sat)
Time: 4pm
Venue: Pelangi Pride Centre
Cost per person: $6 (cost of 2 soft drinks and finger food)

RSVP: This event is by invitation only.
LIMITED to only 30 pax, prior registration is required.
For an invite - please email [pelangipridecentre at yahoo dot com] with your name (in full), contact number, the name/s of your guests, by 13th Feb 2009.

---

The Times of Harvey Milk

The film was produced after Milk's death using original interviews, exclusive documentary footage, news reports, and archival footage, so that Milk is credited as the lead (posthumously). Other politicians including San Francisco mayor George Moscone (who was assassinated with Milk), and Moscone's successor and now United States Senator Dianne Feinstein appear in archival footage. The movie opens with a tearful Feinstein delivering her announcement to the media that Moscone and Milk had been assassinated by Dan White.

Also featured in the film is then-schoolteacher Tom Ammiano, who has been a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors since 1994, and was recently elected to the California State Assembly.

The film was narrated by Harvey Fierstein with an original score by Mark Isham.

The film was directed by Rob Epstein and produced Richard Schmiechen. Richard Schmiechen died from AIDS several years after the completion of the film.

Open this Saturday! (24 Jan 09)

Hi everyone!

We're working extra hard this year and won't be taking our usual break during the Chinese New Year (CNY) period, so come by and hang out with us this Saturday, 24 Jan 09, we'll be open from 4-8pm as usual :)

Wishing all PPC friends who celebrate CNY a Happy "Niu" Year! :)

All the best!
Nam Khim, Eileena and Charm

Saturday, 10 January 09: Documentary Screening - This Film Is Not Yet Rated

10 of January 2009 @ PELANGI PRIDE CENTRE

Screening of "THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED"


Details at a Glance
Date: 10 January 2009 (Sat)
Time: 4pm
Venue: Pelangi Pride Centre
Cost per person: $6 (cost of 2 soft drinks and finger food)

RSVP: This event is by invitation only.
LIMITED to only 30 pax, prior registration is required.
For an invite - please email [pelangipridecentre at yahoo dot com]with your name (in full), contact number, the name/s of your guests, by 8th Jan 2009.

---

This Film Is Not Yet Rated

This Film Is Not Yet Rated is an independent documentary film about the Motion Picture Association of America's rating system and its effect on American culture, directed by Kirby Dick and produced by Eddie Schmidt. It premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was released limited on September 1, 2006. The Independent Film Channel, the film's producer, aired the film later that year.

The MPAA gave the original cut of the film an NC-17 rating for "some graphic sexual content" - scenes that illustrated the content a film could include to garner an NC-17 rating. Kirby Dick appealed, and descriptions of the ratings deliberations and appeal were included in the documentary. The new version of the film is not rated.

The film discusses disparities the filmmaker sees in ratings and feedback: between Hollywood and independent films, between homosexual and heterosexual sexual situations, between male and female sexual depictions, and between violence and sexual content.

Themes and discussion
Much of the film's press coverage was devoted to Dick and his crew's use of a private investigator to unmask the identities of the ratings and appeals board members.

Other revelations in the film include: the discovery that many ratings board members either have children 18 and over or have no children at all (typically, the MPAA has suggested it hires only parents with children between the ages of 5 and 17); that the board seems to treat homosexual material much more harshly than heterosexual material (this assertion is supported by an MPAA spokesperson's statement in USA Today that "We don't create standards; we just follow them"); that the board's raters receive no training and are deliberately chosen because of their lack of expertise in media literacy or child development; that senior raters have direct contact in the form of required meetings with studio personnel after movie screenings; and that the MPAA's appeals board is just as secretive as the ratings board, its members being mostly movie theater chain and studio executives. Also included on the appeals board are two members of the clergy (one Catholic and one Episcopalian, who may or may not have voting power).

Prior to Sundance, the film sparked initial press interest when it was handed an NC-17 rating by the MPAA for "some graphic sexual content." When it premiered at Sundance, the film's ratings deliberations, along with Kirby Dick's appeal, were included in the documentary. Since the film had changed dramatically from the time of the NC-17 rating, the film cannot be released with an MPAA rating without the film being resubmitted for review.

The film went on to draw crowds at many other festivals, including South by Southwest and the Seattle International Film Festival, and was slated for theatrical release in fall 2006.

more info at - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Film_Is_Not_Yet_Rated