Father-daughter magician duo Lawrence and Priscilla Khong will be returning to the halls of the Esplanade Theatre this July for another series of performances that'll surely sell out as usual — but the LGBT community here are taking issue with the fact that IKEA Singapore has come on board as event sponsors.
This is because Lawrence Khong is also a very high-profile anti-gay pastor of the Faith Community Baptist Church, while IKEA are internationally known to be a supporters of LGBT rights. It must have been a unpleasant surprise then to see IKEA Family as official supporters of the Khong's event.
According to a report on Gay Star News, numerous members of Singapore's LGBT community have expressed their disappointment over the fact that the gay-friendly Swedish furniture giant are seen publicly supporting the famously anti-gay pastor.
Khong has been pulling in massive volumes of controversy as the biggest public figure for anti-LGBT sentiments here. He has been repeatedly urging the government against repealing discriminatory laws and calls homosexuality a looming threat to nation-building — among many other provocative comments. The pastor has also organised a number of initiatives against the homosexual community, masterminding anti-gay petitions, events and the LoveSingapore network of churches to lobby against gay equality here.
Aside from his duties as a pastor and vocal critic of homosexuality, he is a highly successful magic performer together with his daughter Priscilla — but his shows have been known to be have evangelistic overtones. Their upcoming show at the Esplanade, entitled VISION, is said to be a $2 million production and promises to be one of the biggest magic shows in the world.Yes, two freaking million dollars.
Historically, IKEA on the other hand has been known to be supporters of equal rights for the LGBT community. In an emotional blogpost by Singaporean lesbian mother and longtime IKEA customer Olivia Chiong, she points out that Ikea was the first company to feature a same-sex couple in one of their commercials back in 1994. The company even spoke out over controversy following a Russian law that prevents them from publishing a feature about an English lesbian couple in the Russian iteration of their customer magazine IKEA Family Live.
When contacted by Gay Star News, IKEA Singapore clarified that while they are promoting Khong's show on their website, they are not funding it.
Whatever the company's reasons for supporting the show, members of Singapore's LGBT community such as Chiong, Oogachaga, Sayoni and more have made it publicly clear about their dissatisfaction with IKEA. "IKEA has consistently supported equal rights around the world. Therefore, their support of Lawrence Khong’s show is a direct contradiction of IKEA’s values," Chiong writes. "As one of the families Lawrence Khong has condemned as evil, I am concerned that IKEA will be seen as endorsing his continued hate speech against us."
Photo: Lawrence Khong Facebook page
Father-daughter magician duo Lawrence and Priscilla Khong will be returning to the halls of the Esplanade Theatre this July for another series of performances that'll surely sell out as usual — but the LGBT community here are taking issue with the fact that IKEA Singapore has come on board as event sponsors.
This is because Lawrence Khong is also a very high-profile anti-gay pastor of the Faith Community Baptist Church, while IKEA are internationally known to be a supporters of LGBT rights. It must have been a unpleasant surprise then to see IKEA Family as official supporters of the Khong's event.
According to a report on Gay Star News, numerous members of Singapore's LGBT community have expressed their disappointment over the fact that the gay-friendly Swedish furniture giant are seen publicly supporting the famously anti-gay pastor.
Khong has been pulling in massive volumes of controversy as the biggest public figure for anti-LGBT sentiments here. He has been repeatedly urging the government against repealing discriminatory laws and calls homosexuality a looming threat to nation-building — among many other provocative comments. The pastor has also organised a number of initiatives against the homosexual community, masterminding anti-gay petitions, events and the LoveSingapore network of churches to lobby against gay equality here.
Aside from his duties as a pastor and vocal critic of homosexuality, he is a highly successful magic performer together with his daughter Priscilla — but his shows have been known to be have evangelistic overtones. Their upcoming show at the Esplanade, entitled VISION, is said to be a $2 million production and promises to be one of the biggest magic shows in the world.Yes, two freaking million dollars.
Historically, IKEA on the other hand has been known to be supporters of equal rights for the LGBT community. In an emotional blogpost by Singaporean lesbian mother and longtime IKEA customer Olivia Chiong, she points out that Ikea was the first company to feature a same-sex couple in one of their commercials back in 1994. The company even spoke out over controversy following a Russian law that prevents them from publishing a feature about an English lesbian couple in the Russian iteration of their customer magazine IKEA Family Live.
When contacted by Gay Star News, IKEA Singapore clarified that while they are promoting Khong's show on their website, they are not funding it.
Whatever the company's reasons for supporting the show, members of Singapore's LGBT community such as Chiong, Oogachaga, Sayoni and more have made it publicly clear about their dissatisfaction with IKEA. "IKEA has consistently supported equal rights around the world. Therefore, their support of Lawrence Khong’s show is a direct contradiction of IKEA’s values," Chiong writes. "As one of the families Lawrence Khong has condemned as evil, I am concerned that IKEA will be seen as endorsing his continued hate speech against us."
Photo: Lawrence Khong Facebook page