Alex Au

Alex Au Waipang, also known by his Internet pseudonym as Yawning Bread, is an advocate of LGBT rights in Singapore. Au is a blogger and activist who provides analyses of Singaporean politics, culture, gay issues and miscellaneous subjects on his blog. He is also the co-author of two books, People Like Us: Sexual Minorities in Singapore and a French-language treatise on homophobia entitled L'Homophobie.

He was the owner of Rairua, Singapore's first nude gay sauna.

Biography

Au, of Cantonese descent, was born in Singapore in 1952. He attended the Anglo-Chinese School for his primary and secondary education and obtained his tertiary degree from the National University of Singapore. After graduation, he worked in a managerial position at a British multinational corporation before branching out on his own as the proprietor of several business catering to the gay community, as well as freelance writing. He was one of the founding members, along with Joseph Lo and Dr. Russell Heng, of Singapore's main gay equality lobby group People Like Us, and also the founder and list owner of the Singapore Gay News List (SiGNeL), the first discussion forum for Singapore's gay community.

In July 2003, Au was identified by the now-defunct Channel i as a gay activist. His views were solicited in the wake of Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's recent announcement that the hiring of gays in the civil service would henceforth be liberalized. Au used his connections with People Like Us and with leading practitioners in the local gay arts scene to organize IndigNation, Singapore's first gay pride month in 2005 and Short Circuit, Singapore's first gay film festival in 2006. On 22 January 2015, Au was held to be guilty of scandalising the court in respect of one of his two Yawning Bread articles, and cleared of the second charge. The Court of Appeal rejected his appeal on 1 December 2015.