As part of their their Valentine’s Day long-form feature, TODAY ran a piece on power couples in Singapore’s art scene, and to be honest it’s a pretty good package.
All was not full of love, however. Apparently Ivan Heng — renowned artistic director of theatre company W!ld Rice — had been intentionally left out of the piece, despite having been approached by TODAY journalist Mayo Martin for the story.
Why? Oh, probably because Heng is married to another man — Tony Trickett, executive director of W!LD RICE.
The alleged prejudice against homosexual relationship is highlighted by Heng in a flustered Facebook post last Saturday, questioning why he and Trickett (one of the most prominent art power couples here) were snubbed at the last minute by the higher editors.
According to TODAY, it was because “it didn’t fit with the rest of the profiles throughout the couples series of stories” which sounds totes suspicious, especially since they weren’t even mentioned in the paragraph about couples in the theatre scene.
“What could this mean?” asks Heng. “Would the higher editors care to identify themselves and explain their decision?”
Tony and I had agreed to be part of this Valentine’s Day feature, after journalist Mayo Martin reached out to us. We’ve…
Posted by Ivan Heng on Saturday, 13 February 2016
The Cultural Medallion recipient tied the knot with his English partner of 18 years in 2014 in London, and news of the wedding was even reported in mainstream media — but it seems that normalising the relationship between gay men and women are where the lines are drawn.
This should sound familiar — the Media Development Authority previously banned an Archie comic that featured a gay wedding because “publications that encourage, promote or glamourise sexually permissive and alternative lifestyles and deviant sexual practices are not allowed.”
