Homosexuality in Singapore

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[edit] Definition

The terms 'gay' and 'homosexual' in this article are defined as 'having a greater sexual attraction for the same sex than for the opposite sex'. Thus, a person happily married to a spouse of the opposite sex may still be gay even though he or she consciously refrains from or has never indulged in homosexual acts.

The articles in this category have been intentionally prefixed "Singapore gay..." instead of the ideally accurate "Singaporean LGBTI..." so as to render them more accessible to the lay reader who may not be familiar with technical gender terms, and to increase the likelihood of their getting higher-ranking hits when users of search engines type "gay" and "Singapore".

[edit] Statistical problems

It is unknown exactly how many homosexuals there are in Singapore or what percentage of the population they constitute. The main reason for this is that section 377A of the Penal Code (Singapore) criminalizes "gross indecency" between men which includes even consensual, private, adult homosexual acts. The penalty is up to two years' imprisonment.

As such, in any survey or census, no citizen would readily admit to being what is essentially, in the eyes of the Law, a criminal. By the same token, it is impossible to determine how many murderers, rapists or grand larcenists there are.

This statistical vacuum was not regarded as any problem in the past and no population census conducted in Singapore has ever bothered to quantify such people. However, with the increasing cognisance of equal, universal human rights, freedom of individual expression and the growing political and economic clout of homosexuals, this hitherto neglected aspect of sociological statistics will become increasingly important in the future.

The 2000 U.S. decennial census estimated (by extrapolation from hard data) that the proportion of gay men in America was 2.5 percent and of lesbians, 1.2 percent (source: Scientific American, March 2005 issue, page 20, 'Gay and Lesbian Census' by Rodger Doyle [1]) even though socio-psychological studies from the Kinsey era to the present day show that the same percentages of those claiming greater erotic attraction for the same sex were 7.7 for men and 7.5 for women[2]. No conclusive explanation exists for this anomaly.

The latest study done by the British civil service in December 2005 using actuarial tables and estimates supplied by the Department of Trade and Industry reported the figure for gay people in the UK as being 3.6 million or 6 percent of the population [3].

On 26 December 2005, China Daily reported that Zhang Beichuan, China's foremost expert on homosexuality estimated, according to statistics, that the number of gays in the Peoples' Republic was between 39 and 52 million, or 3 to 4 percent of the population [4].

Figures in Singapore may be broadly similar.

  • Read PLU3's review of previous international studies: [5]

[edit] Available statistics

In 2001, Fridae, Asia's largest English language-LGBT web portal, polled its gay and lesbian members residing in Singapore[6]. Of the 595 respondents, 39% declared that they were "attached" or "living with a partner." 40% of the respondents who were in relationships had been with the same partner for more than 6 months.

A high proportion of respondents lived with their parents, while only 22% owned or rented their homes. This was despite the relatively high income levels of the respondents, with 50% earning more than S$80,000 (US$47,000) per annum – 20% reporting income levels of more than S$180,000 per annum, 11% between S$120,000 to S$180,000 and 19% between S$80,000 to S$120,000.

[edit] Historical background

See the articles:

[edit] Singapore gay culture

See the articles:

[edit] Singapore gay personalities

[edit] Historical

Paddy Chew

Paddy Chew- Singapore's first AIDS victim to come out to the general public (1998)

The first Singaporean AIDS victim to publicly declare his HIV-positive status, thus giving a face to a hitherto anonymous affliction which mainstream society considered remote from possible encounter. He came out on 12 Dec 1998 during the First National AIDS Conference in Singapore. He identified his orientation as bisexual.

His plight 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 from 10-17 May 1999. He passed away on 21 Aug 1999, shortly after the play's run ended. (For more information, see the article Paddy Chew)

Arthur Yap

Arthur Yap - one of Singapore's finest poets

Yap was arguably Singapore's finest poet, enormously influential amongst the later generations of Singaporean writers. He died of naso-pharyngeal carcinoma on 19 June 2006.

[edit] Contemporary

[edit] Activists

Singaporean gay activists Alex Au and Kelvin Wong during a television interview on Channel i News in July 2003.

  • Eileena Lee (see Fridae interview,Yahoo! profile) - Singapore's most well-known lesbian activist. Lee was the founder of RedQueen!, Singapore's first and main lesbian mailing list. She was instrumental in the setting up of Looking Glass, a counselling service for lesbians in emotional distress, and Pelangi Pride Centre, Singapore's first LGBT community centre. She relinquished her appointment as president of the pro-tem committee of People Like Us 3 in 2006 but continues to build a bridge between the lesbian and gay communities. She currently devotes most of her energy to moderating RedQueen! and organising activities at Pelangi Pride Centre.
Singaporean most well-known lesbian activist Eileena Lee during the Channel U television documentary "Inside Out" aired on 23 February 2005.


  • Charles Tan - PLU3's effectively-bilingual, diplomatic, affable and unflappable spokesman. Tan was the second male gay activist to be interviewed on Singapore television and is an ardent advocate of democracy.
Singaporean gay activist Charles Tan during the Channel U television documentary "Inside Out" aired on 23 February 2005.


  • Jean Chong (see Fridae Interview, blog) - one of the founders of Sayoni, a discussion forum for queer women. Chong was also active for 7 years in organising women's activities for Safehaven and the Free Community Church. She is currently the only woman serving in the core committee of People Like Us. She played an instrumental role in organising all the women's functions for IndigNation 2006 and was the chief liaison personnel for many of the other events. She forms a strong link between the lesbian and gay communities.
Jean Chong, one of the founders of Sayoni.


Charmaine Tan, one of the 3 founders of Pelangi Pride Centre.


[edit] Entrepreneurs

  • Edward Chew - Singapore's first "pink" entrepreneur. Publisher of the world's first glossy Asian gayrotic periodical, OG, which was produced in Singapore, printed in Hong Kong, and widely distributed around the world through the 1980s and 1990s. Many Singaporean gay photographers and graphic artists worked underground to produce OG semi-annually over two decades.
  • Max Lim - Singapore's first gay impresario to be known by a wide swathe of the local LGBT community. He was the first to organise outdoor gay parties in the early 1990s at such venues as the East Coast Lagoon and Big Splash, and non-Sunday gay disco nights at various mainstream clubs like Dancers - the Club in Clarke Quay and at Far East Shopping Centre. He opened Spartacus, Singapore's first gay sauna with a daily gay disco on the ground floor, and later, Stroke and Raw saunas along Ann Siang Road. Lim was the first to experiment with such novel concepts as a 24- hour sauna that never closes, a totally gay restaurant, a transwoman pride march down Ann Siang Road and Club Street, a drag artiste cabaret-disco, swimming trunk fashion shows, erotic film screenings, overnight lodgings for gay men, and offering patrons the option to buys shares in gay enterprises.
Dr. Stuart Koe - founder of Asia's largest English-language LGBT web portal, fridae.com.


  • Vincent [8] - Founder of Vincent's lounge / Vincenz, Singapore's first dedicated East-meets-West gay bar where Caucasian patrons could socialise with their local aficionados.
Vincent - founder of Singapore's first East-meets-West gay bar.


[edit] Arts practitioners

  • Tan Peng - Singapore's first openly gay artist and also one of the first Singaporeans to come out to the general public. His homoerotic charcoal sketches were featured in the Straits Times in the 1980s, the first for a local artist.
Martin Loh - Singaporean artist.


  • Cyril Wong (see website) - The only openly-gay poet to win the National Arts Council's Young Artist Award for Literature, Wong is at the forefront in canvassing greater public support for the arts in general, and poetry in particular.
Cyril Wong - Singaporean poet.


Dominic Chua - Singaporean poet.


Royston Tan - Singaporean film producer.

[edit] Academics

  • Dr. Russell Heng (see Fridae interview) - Singaporean academic, playwright, psychologist and former Straits Times journalist. The most senior of all the gay activists, Heng was the first local academic to write research papers on homosexuality in Singapore and also one of the founding members of People Like Us.
Dr. Russell Heng - Singaporean academic, playwright, psychologist and former journalist


  • Dr. Tan Chong Kee (see Fridae interview, website) - the impressively bilingual and academically-qualified founder of Sintercom (Singapore Internet Community), Tan has been a guest on several television panel discussions and documentaries, and the subject of newspaper articles on socio-political activists. He delivered the first lecture of IndigNation entitled "Same Sex Love in Classical Chinese Literature", in Mandarin.
Dr. Tan Chong Kee - Singaporean academic, social activist and writer


[edit] Professionals

  • Sylvia Tan (see bibliography) - the first Singaporean journalist to write exclusively about local, as well as international, LGBT culture. Tan holds a degree in communications science and is presently working as the principal reporter and news editor of Fridae.com, Asia's largest English-language LGBT web portal.

Sylvia Tan - Singapore's first journalist to report exclusively on local and regional GLBT culture

[edit] Other prominent personalities

[edit] Singapore gay venues

(For a discussion of places no longer extant where homosexuals used to socialise or cruise such as Le Bistro, Pebbles Bar, Treetops Bar, Vincent's lounge, Niche, Marmota/Legend/Shadows, Spartacus, Rairua, Boat Quay and Esplanade Park, see the article Singapore gay venues: historical).

[edit] Non-commercial/non-sexual venues

Formerly located at #04-02/04, Yangtze Building, 100A Eu Tong Sen Road, not to be confused with the same unit number at Pearls Centre with which it is intimately linked. It is now located at 56 Geylang Lor 23 Level 3, Century Technology Building.

A view of the left portion of the Pearls Centre-Yangtze Building complex from Eu Tong Sen Street. A view of the rightmost portion of the Pearls Centre-Yangtze Building complex, showing billboards for Yangtze cinema.

A Singaporean Christian church which welcomes all people regardless of race, religion, gender, sexual orientation or economic status. It conducts Sunday services at 10:30 am.

Set up by activists to inculcate pride in being gay and in staying HIV negative, it was formerly located at 22a Rowell Road, above the AFA headquarters, in the Serangoon or Little India area and at Bianco - 21 Tanjong Pagar Road, #04-01, Singapore 088444 (above Mox Bar & Cafe) and operates every Saturday from 4-8pm. From April 2008, it will be operating out of 54 Rowell Road, back in the Serangoon or Little India area.

Its main features are the extensive library of local and international gay literature as well as non-fiction books whose catalogue can be searched online on its website, and an archive of Singapore gay history and culture. Events are held every 2nd Saturday of the month. For this and other information, please email pelangipridecentre@yahoo.com or see www.pelangipridecentre.org

[edit] Arts venues

The following list consists of exhibition and performance venues where many works dealing with LGBT themes or by LGBT arts practitioners have been held. However, they are not exclusively used for such purposes.

45 Armenian Street. Founded in 1990 by the late Kuo Pao Kun, it is Singapore's first independent contemporary arts centre, centrally located in the civic district. Its sub-sections include a black box theatre, a gallery, a dance studio, the Blue Room and two multi-function classrooms. It was the venue for the nascent PLU Sunday meetings in the early 90s. The historic PLU 2 pre-registration discussion was also held in the Blue Room in 2003.


A growing arts, entertainment and lifestyle block managed by Guan Seng Kee Pte Ltd, just next to Ya Kun Kaya Toast. The lift serving the upper floors has a modern interior but is rickety and painfully slow. The building houses the following establishments:

1) Space 21

An unrenovated 1950-sq ft art space and multi-function hall situated on level 3, the second home of Utterly Art.

Interior view of Space 21. Another view of the interior of Space 21. View of the doors leading to multipurpose hall on level 2 21 from the courtyard outside. Portion of the courtyard on level 2. Another portion of the courtyard on level 2. Another view of the courtyard.

2) MOX Bar & Café website on level 4.


View of the exit at MOX Bar & Café. Interior of MOX Bar & Café. Lounge area with grand piano in the background. Garden swing in one corner.

3) Bianco (formerly known as The Attic)

The topmost floor is a vault-like loft under the same management as MOX Bar & Café. It has a seating capacity of up to 150 people and is suitable for exhibitions, fashion shows and performances. It was the former location of the Sunday services of the Free Community Church (from 2002 to 2004) and Toy Factory Theatre Ensemble [11](from 2004 to 2005). Currently, it houses Bianco which contains a small bar and has an all-white decor from which it derives its name. Dr. Russell Heng's talk When Queens Ruled! A History of Gay Venues in Singapore was held here on 16 Aug 05 as part of IndigNation, Singapore's first gay pride month. It has been the home of Pelangi Pride Centre since mid-2007.

Stairs leading up to the entrance of The Attic/Bianco. The compact bar of Bianco. View of the interior of Bianco nearest the entrance. View of the other half of Bianco, showing the DJ console, screen and central row of square bed-rests.

208 South Bridge Road, Level 2 (above Xposé)

Exterior façade of Utterly Art, on the second floor, viewed from South Bridge Road. The glass door next to Xposé's entrance leading to the stairs to Utterly Art. An exhibition of paintings by Martin Loh. A view of Martin Loh's artwork in a corner of Utterly Art, next to the windows.

It provides exhibition space and management services to local and Asian artists, and photographers. The most active gallery on the Singapore art scene, it is a leading showcase of works by established painters like Martin Loh and Chng Seok Tin, as well as popular young artists like Trina Poon.

It was the venue for the very first event of IndigNation, Singapore's historic, inaugural, government-approved gay pride month celebration in August 2005. This was an exhibition of paintings by artist Martin Loh entitled Cerita Budak-Budak, meaning 'children's stories' in Peranakan Malay. The event was followed up with Contra/Diction - A Night with Gay Poets held on 4 Aug 05, Singapore's first public gay poetry reading session which was attended by over 70 people, with standing room only.

[edit] Entertainment and cruising venues

[edit] The future

  • The greatest impediment to the achievement of absolute gay equality in Singapore is the rampant spread of HIV infection amongst Men who have Sex with Men (MSM). The Ministry of Health is contemplating measures to curb this exponential increase. Activists from Action for AIDS have drawn up guidelines for safe sex in saunas which they published in August 2004. They are also working strenuously to educate the gay community in particular and Singaporean society in general about the ABCs of HIV control. These measures have been tacitly ratified by the Ministry of Health although the latter itself appears not to want to be seen to be the originator of these efforts due to the criminalisation of homosexual sex in Singapore and the alleged existence of a conservative majority. This sensible approach, instead of a harsh clampdown on gay saunas, would avoid stifling a considerable portion of the creative economy.
  • Looking beyond the immediate AIDS crisis, it is probable that with the intensive international efforts at developing a HIV vaccine and the discovery that existing drugs like valproic acid [12]are able to wipe out latent reservoirs of HIV infection, a cure for AIDS will be found within a decade. The infidelity of HIV replication which leads to a high mutation rate may delay the attainment of this Holy Grail by several years but even in the most pessimistic scenario, AIDS will become a non-terminal, chronic condition, manageable by cheap generic drugs, much like what type 2 diabetes mellitus is today. This would remove the raison d'être for the current conservative backlash and the liberalisation that was witnessed in the years prior to 2004 would in all likelihood resume its normal course.
  • Beyond that, advances in genetic engineering will soon make it possible for homosexuals to reproduce themselves in a true biological sense, by the recombination of haploid chromosomal complements from both fathers or both mothers (the latter already achieved in mice) to produce a child with the characteristics of both parents, and not merely via adoption or cloning. It will then be possible to create a self-sustaining gay civilisation in Singapore where every citizen completely enjoys equal rights.

[edit] External links

Retrieved from "http://sgwiki.com/wiki/Homosexuality_in_Singapore"
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