It was another record-breaking gathering for Pink Dot SG yesterday (Jun 13), when over 28,000 people rallied at Hong Lim Park to support the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.

This is also the second year Pink Dot has gathered in the face of anti-LGBT, pro-family protest movements like Wear White.

In fact, security personnel, hired by the Pink Dot organisers, can be seen patrolling around the Hong Lim park.

At 7.45pm, the participants held up their pink torches to form a human "pink dot" to light up Hong Lim park.

Who are the people who attended Pink Dot? Why did they brave the weather to do so?

Here is a glimpse of the people who made up the Pink Dot this year, and what motivated them.

Olivia Chiong, 35 and Irene Chiong, 32, with their two-year-old daughter Zoey Chiong

The Chiongs was in the spotlight a week before this year's Pink Dot, when their blog post response to comments in the Facebook group "We are against Pinkdot in Singapore" received international attention. Olivia Chiong spoke to Mothership.sg on why she is at Pink Dot.

On why she is here today:

“If you’ve read my blog then you’ll know that I think it’s important for us to be seen and to be heard - and the only way that people will understand that we’re not any different from others is just to show them that we are really not that different."

On same-sex parenting:

“It’s really not any different from a guy and girl getting together and having a child,” Chiong said, adding that "a lot of thought” goes to having a child.

"You really plan for the process - it is not a decision that any of us take lightly. It’s really a very long process; it’s a very costly process,” she added. “Once we’ve made the decision to (have a child) a lot of us (parents) do take a lot of effort to plan, to make sure that we are doing the best for our children."

“We're not the first same-sex couple in Singapore and I don’t think we’re going to be the last."

Daryl Fong, 37 and Drew Ch’ng, 32

On why they are here today:

“Every year you see Singapore progressing more and more - and it is very encouraging, a very happy thing to see,” Fong said. “When we’re here in Hong Lim Park (there’s) so much joy - everyone is free to be themselves and everyone is free to love. That is a beautiful thing."

“I think it’s time for Singapore to move forward and join the rest of the developed countries and recognise marriage equality,” Fong added, though he admitted that it would not happen soon. “As long as we work towards that direction, I think we can achieve it one day.”

Zack Lin and Liza Kwek, 30

On why they are here today:

“My friends asked me to come,” Lin said. Kwek, however, said that she was here to support Pink Dot, because her employer was one of the sponsors.

On the opposition to Pink Dot:

“Everyone is allowed to express their opinions, so I don’t think it’s an us against them kind of situation,” Kwek said. “I mean, if they feel that based on their religious beliefs that is the message that people who wear white want to send, I think it’s legitimate."

"I won’t say it’s right or wrong, but I feel that every cause including this Pink Dot is a legitimate cause for its own supporters,” she added. "So I don’t have any bad feelings about either group."

Taufiq Ashiblie, 28 and Gerald Soh, 26

On why they are here today:

“To celebrate the freedom to love - and it’s my birthday,” Soh laughs.

“(We’ve been attending Pink Dot since) the second year (2010),” Ashiblie added. “It’s always been with a group of friends, enjoying each other’s company… just being amongst close ones and loved ones."

Rev Dr Yap Kim Hao, 86

On opposition to Pink Dot:

“I think it’s unfair for them (people who oppose Pink Dot) to try to shut up the LGBT people,” said the retired bishop of the Methodist Church, who has attended Pink Dot since its inception.

“I think (each person) is different, and they shouldn’t be attacking somebody who is different from them."

“It’s not right to discriminate against somebody who is different,” Rev Yap added. “I believe that Christianity does not condemn people because of their sexual orientation, even though there are some Bible verses that are interpreted to be doing so."

“(People who oppose Pink Dot) have to square with the idea of loving people. They cannot just hate people because they are different from them.”

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Photos by Ng Yi Shu.

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