LGBT culture in Singapore

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There are no statistics on how many LGBT people there are in Singapore or what percentage of the population they constitute. Section 377A of the Penal Code criminalises sexual acts between men, including consensual and private activities, though it is unenforced. Sexual acts between women are legal.

Singapore has repeatedly come under controversy for its treatment and viewing of the LGBT community. Despite multiple advocacy groups stepping up awareness campaigns with scorecards for politicians and online rallies over what they see as everyday discrimination that stems from a rarely-used, colonial-era law banning sexual acts between men, the dominant PAP refuses to set up protections for LGBT individuals. In line with worldwide trends, though, attitudes towards LGBT members of the community has become more accepting and optimistic, especially in the youth community.

Notable residents identifying as LGBT[]

Historical[]

Paddy Chew[]

Paddy Chew was the first Singaporean to publicly declare his HIV-positive status. He came out on 12 December 1998 during the . He identified his orientation as bisexual. His affliction was dramatised in a play called Completely With/Out Character produced by The Necessary Stage, directed by Alvin Tan and written by Haresh Sharma, staged in May 1999. He died on 21 August 1999, shortly after the play's run ended.

Arthur Yap[]

Arthur Yap was a poet who was awarded the 1983 Singapore Cultural Medallion for Literature. He died of laryngeal carcinoma on 19 June 2006, bequeathing $500,000/-, part of his estate which included his apartment off Killiney Road, to the National Cancer Centre Singapore where he was a patient.^[1]

Arts personalities[]

• Cyril Wong, poet.^[2]
• Alfian Sa'at, writer, poet and playwright. He had a weekly column on gay website Trevvy titled, "Iced Bandung".
• Ng Yi-Sheng, writer and performance artist. Ng is the author of a collection of personally written poems including gay-themed ones.^[3]

Politicians[]

• Vincent Wijeysingha; first Singaporean politician to openly declare that he was gay when he made a post on Facebook ahead of the annual Pink Dot SG event.^[4]

Cyberspace[]

Singapore has particularly established LGBT portals owing to its high Internet penetration rates and the restriction on LGBT content in print and broadcast media.

• is an online discussion forum for gay men in Singapore started in 1997 to discuss any issues which concern them. It eschews political, religious, and anti-racial topics.
• Dear Straight People is a media platform focused on content related to and concerning the LGBTQ+ community.^[5] Founded by Sean Foo in July 2015, Dear Straight People has become Singapore's leading LGBTQ+ publication. Dear Straight People is known for its coming out stories, which includes notable LGBT+ figures such as Paralympic medalist Theresa Goh and the host of Drag Race Thailand, Pangina Heals.
• is an English-language LGBT news and social networking portal founded in 2000 by Stuart Koe.^[6] Fridae was popular during the early 2000s, but has become largely inactive during the 2010s.
• , also known as 'GSC' – Started in February 2013 in the footsteps of a host of popular "confessions" websites, GSC is a Facebook page that hosts a collection of user-contributed stories by gay, bisexual, lesbian, straight, transgender and curious members. The page was a sleeper published over 500 'confessions' or posts within less than 2 weeks of its creation^[7] and garnering over 10,000-page 'Likes' in slightly over 6 months. The site is run by an anonymous moderator, an account director in an advertising firm in his 30s who wants to be known only as "GC".^[8] Gay SG Confessions rebranded itself to GLBT Voices, and in 2017 announced its closure. After a 3-year hiatus, GLBT Voices announced its comeback, but its reach and influence has waned since its heyday in 2013. GLBT Voices is now largely inactive on social media.
• Trevvy, formerly known as SgBoy – was set up in March 1999, originally known as "Singapore Boy Homepage" before being renamed SgBoy. It is one of the most popular LGBT portals in Singapore. It underwent a makeover, rebranding itself as Trevvy.com in August 2006, shifting its focus to the more mature 25 to 40-year age group of the local gay market and expanding its user base regionally. On 30 April 2021, Trevvy.com announced the closure of its website, due to its dwindling popularity.^[9]

Organisations supporting LGBT rights[]

• ^[10]
• (PPC), Singapore's first LGBT Centre^[11]

See also[]

• LGBT history in Singapore
• LGBT rights in Singapore
• Human male sexuality
• Pink Dot SG

References[]

External links and references[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to LGBT in Singapore.

• Blowing Wind Gay Forum
• The Yawning Bread website: [1],[2]
• Trevvy (formerly ): [3]
• Fridae.com: [4]
• Gay Singapore Guide
• Utopia's Singapore listings: [5]
• The Purple Alliance: [6]^{[permanent dead link]}
• : [7] – Singapore-based organisation for Asian queer women