SINGAPORE - Singapore has banned a volume of the "Archie" comic book that featured a same-sex marriage, adding fuel to a censorship row that erupted over a children's story about two male penguins hatching an egg. "Archie: The Married Life Book Three" was taken off book store shelves following a complaint to Singapore's Media Development Authority which found it was not in line with social norms and breached their content guidelines.
News of the ban, which was imposed earlier this year but came to light late on Wednesday, comes a week after Singapore's National Library Board said it was to destroy three children's books seen as being pro-homosexual, including penguin story "And Tango Makes Three." Singapore has tight rules on censorship, banning Playboy magazine and blocking dozens of websites in what it has described as "a symbolic statement of the types of content which the community is opposed to." A growing groundswell of support for gay rights is being met with noisy protests from religious groups, keen to maintain the status quo of sex between two men being illegal. Next week, an issue of the comic will be released in the United States that shows Archie dying as he takes a bullet protecting a gay friend.
In-Depth
- Book Ban: Singapore Nixes Story About Gay Penguins
- Archie Andrews, Who Loved Betty and Veronica, Dies at 73 (New York Times)
- Do Gay Penguins Have a Place in School Libraries?