List of LGBT organisations in Singapore

Disbanded/inactive groups

Groups active both online and offline

• Yagga Yagga support group – the third, but most well known, of the initial support groups for gay men ever to be organised in Singapore. It had two sessions, Yagga Yagga 1 and Yagga Yagga 2, separated by several months. The previous groups were named Northern (something) and Forbidden Fruit. All were started by activist Alex Au. The same format would be carried into future support groups such as the current and immensely popular Oogachaga. Yagga Yagga was targeted at men who embraced their sexuality late in life. Operational for 12 months, its last session ended in June 1999. Read Yawning Bread's round-up of the group's experiences:
• Friends Like Us (F.L.US, pronounced "flas")- an LGBT social enterprise which aspires to be the nexus between business, innovation and community work. They are committed to reaching out to diverse members of LGBT society with the primary objective to better lives through entrepreneurial and other community projects. Net proceeds from their ad hoc activities and events including Dragon Boat racing, inline skating, kayaking, movie outings, a dating club, gatherings and trips, are used to fund community service initiatives including their Caresports, Careout and Carefund programmes.

Groups active online only

Non-profit

• The online IRC community #AJ, founded by channel owner YiJan in 2001. Although it started as a cyberchat service, it has since forged many friendships and formed real-world bonds. Channel #AJ is currently situated on the Galaxynet IRC Network. It can be accessed either with an IRC client or #AJ's downloadable customised mIRC.#AJ is no longer in operation, due to inactive participants and the downtime of the hosting IRC server, Galaxynet.^[1]
• The Hong Lim Park Forum opened its doors on 13 August 2004 and quickly became the premier discussion board for mature gay Singaporeans, with good participation from mature Asian men from around the world. For some time, it was touted as the world's largest English language-based online forum for mature Asian men, although Mandarin and Japanese language exchanges were not uncommon. However, interest waned and it ceased functioning in early 2006. It is now only a skeleton website.
• Maleculture – a website set up by entrepreneur Max Lim, closely affiliated with Raw sauna, providing information and support for gay Asian men. It is now inactive.

Active groups

Groups active both online and offline

• People Like Us 3 (PLU3) The first and still the main gay-equality advocacy group in Singapore, started in 1993 by Joseph Lo and later joined by activists Alex Au and Dr. Russell Heng.
  Main article: People Like Us 3
• Action for AIDS (AfA)- a gay-supported and gay-supportive AIDS advocacy and AIDS services charity started by a group of doctors in 1988. It organised successful campaigns to break down the 'only homosexuals get AIDS' stereotypes, to change the 24-hour cremation rule and to create greater AIDS awareness in school sex education. It publishes 'The Act', a free periodical which provides Singaporeans MSMs with safe-sex and AIDS-related information.
• Heartland- the gay Singapore Buddhist discussion group spearheaded by activist Kelvin Wong in 2003.
• Safehaven- a Christian group which has been gathering since 1998 for prayer, Bible study and fellowship. Gay affirmative and made up of different age groups, backgrounds and religious traditions.
• The Free Community Church- a Christian network offering the support of small groups and a Sunday service at Century Technology Building. Inaugurated in 1999.
• Adventurers Like Us (ADLUS) – the Singapore sports and outdoor activities network for gays and lesbians. It was started by Kelvin Wong, who later handed over its management to Ethan Lim. The mailing list is the main communication hub for the network. The website was revamped in September 2006 to become more user-friendly. ADLUS activities encompass many sporting activities and the group is also actively involved in promoting sports and outdoor activities in the GLBT community. The website also list major events in the Singapore sports scene. They were the network that helped send Singapore's first sports team to the Gay Olympics in Sydney.
• Gay Geeks Singapore - Singapore group in meetup.com. Holds monthly social meetings for people of any gender or sexuality, together with other activities of general interest. Follows the parent group Gay Geek Drinks London on the same webpage.
• Women's Nite- Started by Charmaine Tan and Eileena Lee in 2002, Women's Nite provides a safe, neutral and alcohol-free space for lesbians and bisexual women in Singapore to gather and discuss the issues relevant to their lives. Talks and workshops are also held. It runs on the last Saturday of every month. Charmaine Tan, Eileena Lee, Tan Hui Yee, Amanda Lee, Gea Swee Jean and Sylvia Tan are the women working behind the scenes for The Women's Nite.
• Spaces Counseling and Support - a private, non-profit counselling and development agency conceived in 2001 by counsellor and psychologist Clarence Singam. Its most active wing is now Oogachaga.
• Oogachaga- started by artist Jason Wee and friends Steve Wong and Kenneth Lau in 1999, its torch was handed to counsellor Clarence Singam in the early 2000s and is now carried by Bryan Choong, and Leow Yangfa. Oogachaga is a counselling and personal development organisation for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning ("LGBTQ") individuals. Oogachaga services are supervised by credible agencies. Oogachaga talks have become highly anticipated guidance and mutual revelation sessions for the gay community (see Singapore gay conferences). Oogachaga runs support groups for gay men and lesbians. On 18 Feb 2006, Oogachaga started the OCMSM (Oogachaga Men-who-have-Sex-with-Men) hotline, Singapore's first hotline manned by gay volunteers. And on 13 November 2010, Oogachaga launched its email counselling service. These community outreach services enable MSM to talk about issues regarding their sexuality issues or to find out more information on HIV and STI. Oogachaga also conducts annual workshops for professionals such as educators and counselors in many LGBTQ-related fields. It is also one of the few LGBTQ rights organisations in Singapore that has a physical office.
• SAFE Singapore (Supporting, AFfirming and Empowering our LGBTQ friends and family; see, ) – a support group founded in December 2006 by a team of 4 heterosexual women to provide information and resources for straight people struggling to accept their queer friends and relatives.
• Pelangi Pride Centre – Started by Dinesh Naidu, Charmaine Tan and Eileena Lee in Dec 2002 and currently managed by Charmaine Tan, Lai Nam Khim and Eileena Lee. Pelangi Pride Centre is a GLBTQ resource centre which provides a library/archives, information resources and a community space for sexual minorities. Pelangi Pride Centre is currently located at Free Community Church (FCC) and they operates every Saturday, 2pm to 6pm. Events are held regularly every 2nd Saturday of the month. For more information, email pelangipridecentre@yahoo.com or go to www.pelangipridecentre.org
• Sayoni – an online LGBT portal based in Singapore for Asian queer, lesbian, bisexual and transgender women. Founded in 2006 by a group of women from diverse backgrounds, age groups, economic status and ethnicity, it aims to empower queer women via a multi-pronged approach to encourage dialogue within the community and to educate the general public. They conduct regular non-profit events for queer women, including a highly successful annual summer camp. Today this portal has over 1800 members, and a diverse world-wide readership. Sayoni has pioneered and maintained research into queer women in Singapore, through their.
• The Purple Alliance (TPA)- The Purple Alliance is a group committed towards looking after the welfare of LGBTQ individuals. It commits to developing their stakeholders' talents, advocating responsibility and promoting understanding. Trained, qualified personnel run their activities. For instance, all volunteers in the Verify programme are highly trained in health, human sexuality and/or human rights, and many of them are fully qualified nurses. The group also runs a monthly Indian men's social group and works with community partners to host monthly film screenings on human rights and LGBTQ issues.
• SgButterfly- Singapore's first and largest transgender web portal and support group founded by a heterosexual man, Daniel Kaw.
• SGRainbow – SGRainbow is a non-profit community social group for Gay, Bisexual and Queer (GBQ) men aged 18 to 35 in Singapore.
• Pink Dot SG – Pink Dot SG is the most visible and well-known event of the LGBT movement in Singapore, and it has inspired similar movements around the world. A public event that brings together Singaporeans who support the freedom to love, it is attended by both straight and LGBT people and widely reported in local and international media. The first Pink Dot was held in 2009 and drew 2,500 people. 4,000 turned out the following year, and in 2011, the number more than doubled to 10,000. In 2012, over 15,000 people attended the first Pink Dot at night.
• Young Out Here Singapore's first and only queer community group catered towards queer youths, unbiased against the lesbian youth community. Their main programme is a support group for queer youths, with a repertoire of several events organised also catering towards queer youths.
  Main article: Young Out Here

Groups active online only

Non-profit

• Blowing Wind gay forum – an online forum for gay men in Singapore to discuss any issues which concern them. However, it eschews political topics.
• Fabulous Asia – a platform based in Singapore for Asian queer, Gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender, FabulousAsia (www.fabulousasia.com) is an online LGBT Lifestyle portal. The main objective is create a safe place for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community to obtain information and interact. The web portal consist mainly original and 3rd party articles, a forum page, videos, a resident doctor contact form and latest LGBT news from around the world].
• [Indoctrin-Aid] – a human rights one-stop resource centre for GLBTIQ people globally.

Commercial

• Trevvy.com (formerly www.sgboy.com)- set up in March 1999 by its then 20-year-old founder when he was a national serviceman, Sgboy grew to become one of the most popular LGBT portals in Singapore. Widely known for its chat room and discussion boards which enjoy a high degree of participation and deal with a diverse array of topics, many young gay men "came out" and grew up surfing the pioneer Singapore gay portal. It underwent a major 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 it user base regionally. Trevvy held its launch parties entitled "Strawberries" and "Cream" at popular clubs Attica and Taboo respectively in December 2006.
• fridae.asia- this large English-language LGBTQ portal has grown by leaps and bounds since its founding in December 2000 by scientist-cum-entrepreneur Dr. Stuart Koe. It organised the iconic "Nation" mega-parties until public gay parties were banned in Singapore in 2004. It underwent a major shift in focus towards LGBT advocacy in late 2006, announcing that it would no longer be organising large regional circuit parties.
• Two Queens Asia - an organizer of all-girls events such as White Party SG and Two Queens Parties. Also owns 2 F&B outlets at Club St for the community, Bar NKD and FRY Bistro.
• Herstory – a website for grrrls which organises real-world events like the annual Butch Hunt and Femme Quest contests. Other social activities include Grrrls Night Out parties, various sports and dance classes.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender topics in Singapore
Main article: LGBT in Singapore
Law	LGBT rights in Singapore Section 377A of the Penal Code (Singapore)
History	LGBT history in Singapore
Organisations	List of LGBT organisations in Singapore People Like Us SGRainbow Young Out Here Sayoni Free Community Church Pelangi Pride Centre
People	Alex Au Paddy Chew
Events	Women's Nite PinkDot IndigNation Conferences LGBT events
Culture	Art Documentaries Literature Theatre
Media	Trevvy Fridae
Transgender	Transgender people in Singapore
Category:LGBT in Singapore

References