by KIRSTEN HAN
A supporter attends the annual “Pink Dot” event in a public show of support for the LGBT community at Hong Lim Park in Singapore on July 1, 2017 PHOTO/AFP/Roslan Rahman
LGBT activists have made great strides towards equality but the criminalization of gay sex and official homophobic attitudes still keep many in the closet
When Singaporean lesbian Eileena Lee sought peer support after a painful relationship experience in the 1990s, there weren’t many local platforms available for gay women.
“I was looking for support [but] there was no support,” Lee said. “And in those days, it was dial-up modem. It was in the ‘90s and all I could find was mostly porn.”
Times have changed but challenges remain. The evolution of Singapore’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activism reflects both how much has improved in recent years and how much remains the same.
One need only go online to find multiple LGBT resources, from established counselling centers like Oogachaga, to media content on blogs like Dear Straight People, to Singapore’s first LGBT legal guide for couples and families.
Offline, Pink Dot, Singapore’s de facto gay pride event, draws thousands each year. Even new state-imposed regulations that require organizers to erect a barricade around the park—so as to prevent any sort of participation by foreigners—didn’t stop Singaporeans and permanent residents from completely filling the park this July.
In Singapore’s universities, LGBT student groups are some of the most active and organized. Determined to create safe spaces for LGBT students at college campuses, student organizations like ‘The G Spot’ at Yale-National University of Singapore (NUS), ‘Out to Care’ at the Singapore Management University and ‘Kaleidoscope’ at the Nanyang Technological University provide opportunities to form support groups.
Five such student groups, part of the Inter-University LGBT Network, organize events like Qrientation, an orientation program to introduce students to gay resources on campus, or SG Month (an acronym for Sexuality and Gender) at NUS to address issues like sexual health, mental health and community. They also seek to facilitate the provision of services like HIV testing on campus.
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