Fridae

A petition started on March 11 by student Miss Thasha Monique Dharmendra, a student urged Singapore's film censorship body to reconsider giving the highest-possible age restriction to critically-acclaimed Love, Simon, despite it featuring no sex scenes or violence.

In its film classification online, the Info-communications Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA) noted that the "central theme of the film revolves around a homosexual character coming to terms with his identity as a homosexual".

The coming-of-age romantic comedy follows the love story of Simon Spier who has fallen in love online and is yet to tell his friends and family he is gay is directed by Greg Berlanti and opens in Singapore this week.

The film is listed as a 12A in the UK and PG-13 in the United States.

"I realised that the movie Love, Simon has been rated R21 by the Media Development Authority of Singapore which I think is ridiculous as there is no sexual intercourse or violence involved," Dharmendra wrote on the petition's page.

"It's just a harmless coming of age movie where the main character happens to be gay. A young Singaporean teen struggling with their sexuality might find themself relating and finding comfort in this movie."

Spokesman for Singapore's largest LGBT event Pink Dot, Paerin Choa, told The New Paper that movies with violence and horror have a lower age restriction in Singapore than Love, Simon, which he called a "story of love and compassion".

"It is so important for LGBT youth to see themselves being represented in media. The R21 rating will deprive the very audience that will benefit most from watching the movie," he said.

Watch the trailer below: