Not many LGBT activists in Singapore favour the use of the pink dollar strategy in the struggle for LGBT equality. Some have pointed out that the purchasing power of the LGBT community and its allies is insufficient to make a dent in the bottom lines of anti-LGBT businesses and organisations and that it is too weak to effectuate any change in their attitude. One local drag artiste even quipped that "you can't shop your way to equality".
However, historical precedent has shown that the ruling People's Action Party tends to liberalise official policies regarding the LGBT community during times of economic hardship in an attempt to pull Singapore out of the economic doldrums. A salient example of this was seen during the peak of the Asian economic crisis in the early 2000s when the Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong liberalised the employment of openly gay employees in the civil service. In the decade preceding that, many Government politicians and civil servants had also read Richard Florida's seminal work, "The Rise of the Creative Class" in which he attributed the economic dynamism and creativity of cities to the fact that they tolerated diversity and were accepting of their LGBT communities.
Since the early 2000s, mainstream businesses have also become more cognisant of the purchasing power of the community and have started to woo their patronage.
See also[]
- Pink money
- Archive of Time magazine article "The Lion in Winter" by Simon Elegant, 7 July 2003
- PM Goh Chok Tong liberalises employment of openly gay individuals in civil service, July 2003
References[]
- Jason Murray, "Chasing the pink dollar $ (The Straits Times [Singapore])", Fridae, 17 August 2003[1].
- https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/11/cities-that-fly-the-rainbow-flag-are-also-the-most-innovative/
- https://thehomeground.asia/destinations/singapore/does-it-really-matter-which-politician-was-first-at-pink-dot-sg/
- https://www.marketing-interactive.com/how-brands-can-avoid-rainbow-capitalising-this-pride-month
Acknowledgements[]
This article was written by Roy Tan.