List of LGBT conferences in Singapore

2003

Homosexuality and Homophobia: Applied Psychotherapeutic Issues for Counsellors

A day-long conference held in August 2003, by SPACES, a private counseling agency. It was groundbreaking in that it was the first widely advertised seminar organized by a predominantly gay volunteer organization which dealt with homosexuality in a scientific and balanced manner. Any previous public talk had to avoid portraying homosexuality as normal, or else the police would not issue a license to allow it to proceed.

3rd International Convention of Asia Scholars (ICAS3)

Held from 19–22 August 2003 at the Raffles City Convention Centre, it was hosted and co-organised by the National University of Singapore's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. It drew over 1000 participants from around the world, almost all of whom were academics. Over 900 papers were presented. The conference was a landmark in that its programme included the most papers touching on sexuality and transgend issues ever assembled in Singapore. The 60-80 queer scholars who flew in for the conference were the largest group of queer academics meeting at a local venue at the same time.

Many felt that the theme of sexuality and transgenderism fielded more papers than any other, such as IndoChinese history or modern Chinese politics. Altogether 10 panels (each with about 4 papers) discussed topics on sexuality and transgenderism. They were:

Some of the academics from Australia and other Western countries had wondered, before the conference, whether their papers would be accepted, considering that the conference was to be held in Singapore, and the NUS would play a big part in its organisation. Academic and activist Russell Heng felt they need not have worried as NUS had actually pitched for it.

Homosexuality: Myths and Truths

Held from 25–28 November 2003 by the Singapore chapter of the controversial US-linked organisation Focus on the Family. This despite the organisers having received protest letters and a statement issued by the AFFIRM Network, a US-based group of psychologists, which highlighted "serious ethical and scientific concerns" about "reparative therapy" for gays and lesbians. The letter listed three "serious problems" which the Singaporean public should have been made aware of if they were considering attending at the event. Recipients of the letter included The Straits Times, the Singapore Psychological Society, the California Psychological Association Ethics Committee and Melvin Wong, Ph.D., the California-based speaker of the seminars. The series of seminars, which was supported by the Metropolitan YMCA, the YMCA of Singapore, the Salvation Army, the Boys' Brigade and the State-run and funded National Council of Social Service (NCCS), covered topics such as "Preventing Homosexuality", "Recovery Therapy" and "Unwanted Homosexuality: Steps to Early Detection and Prevention". People Like Us (PLU) had also sent a different set of letters to the NCCS, the Ministry of Community Development, volunteer organisations and the media highlighting that the claims purported by the seminar's organisers were contrary to the opinions of the mainstream medical community. One of the main points of contention was that voluntary welfare organisations were eligible to receive a 70% training grant from the NCCS if they attended, according to the seminar brochure. The NCCS subsequently withdrew its previously-offered training grant to participants on the grounds of the speaker, Dr. Melvin Wong's lack of qualifications.

2004

The Lovers' Lecture series

In March 2004, The Fun Stage, a theatre group, applied to the Public Entertainment Licensing Unit (PELU), which is under the Singapore Police Force and handles the licensing of public lectures and forums, for permits to hold three talks at SPACE 21, 21 Tanjong Pagar Road. These were to be lead-up events to their play "Lovers' Words", scheduled for mid-April 2004. The 3 talks entitled the "Lovers' Lecture Series" were meant for academics, arts practitioners and critics. Its scheduled programmed was as follows:

The seminars eventually had to be cancelled because in a letter dated 4 March 2004, the Assistant Director of Operations, Police, replied to Richard Chua, the Artistic Co-Director of The Fun Stage, saying that it would be "contrary to public interest" to grant them the necessary permits.

Legislating sexual behaviour- should the State be in our bedrooms?

A forum held on 29 March 2004, organised by the National University of Singapore Society (NUSS) at Kent Ridge Guild Hall. The main speaker was activist Alex Au who argued that resolving the question of whether the State should be regulating the sexual choices of consenting adults depended on whether the State was a paternalistic or liberal one. In the former case, the State's default tendency was to regulate, and one would have to present positive reasons for it not to. The opposite applied in the liberal paradigm. Au used the example of homosexuality to show how weak the arguments for regulating sexual behaviour in a liberal context were, even for such a contentious issue. The other speaker was Associate Professor Michael Hor, Faculty of Law, NUS who dissected section 377 and section 377A of the Penal Code, discussed some pertinent cases and also delved into constitutional principles involved. He touched on the reasoning used by the US Supreme Court in the Lawrence vs Texas case, and how such reasoning might apply in Singapore's constitutional provisions.

2005

Singapore Forum on Politics 2005- Towards an Open and Inclusive Society

Loving Myself - Two Gay Pilgrims Journeying Life

Held on Tuesday, 1 March 2005, it was the first workshop organised by Oogachaga[1]-Looking Glass,[2] the non-profit lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and straight affirming counseling service. This was part of regular personal development and growth workshops for lesbians, gays and their friends which were to take place on the first Tuesday of every other month in 2005.

Clarence Singam and Eileena Lee shared their own journeys of growth into self acceptance and affirmation. Eileena and Clarence shared the lessons they learned about being human, being strong, finding empathy and learning to love from their unique and yet common journeys. They shared their ups and downs, their self rejections, their own healing and the celebration of their selfhoods. The sharing was followed by a question and answer session, to engage Eileena and Clarence further.

The Pink Dollar in the Singaporean context

A dialogue held on Saturday, 12 March 2005 as part of an event curated by Ong Keng Sen of Theatreworks, under the umbrella of the National Arts Council-funded Singapore Season. It took place at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK. PLU3's Alex Au was one of the panelists at the dialogue.

Coming Home To Our Families- To Tell or Not to Tell?

Held on Tuesday, 3 May 2005, the second in the series of Oogachaga-Looking Glass workshops. A panel of 3 gay persons (Kok Wei, Dominic Chua and Eileena Lee), 2 mothers and 2 brothers shared their journey of coming home to each other. What wee the challenges they faced when they found out their family members were gay? What made these three gay persons share their lives as gay people to their families? If they could do it all over again, would they? How would they do it differently?

Loving A Partner- What It Means and What It Takes

Held on Tuesday, 5 July 2005, the third in the series of Oogachaga workshops.

It explored the multitude of challenges, from a lack of role models and social support to dealing with one's own and one's partner's hangups. Questions tackled were: What makes a healthy relationship? How does one deal with trials that pop up in every relationship? How does one negotiate one's relationship commitments? What sacrifices does one have to make to maintain a relationship? How does one's biological families fit in, if at all? A panel of gay and lesbian persons shared the ups & downs and joys & sorrows of their relationships. Speaker Kim shared the twists and turns of his 20-year partnership with Leong. Jo and Jorg talked about their long distance stint and why they decided to get married after a 10-year partnership. The panelists shared the lessons they learned about being human, being strong, finding empathy and learning to love from their unique and yet common journeys.

Sexualities, Genders and Rights in Asia: 1st International Conference of Asian Queer Studies

Sexualities, Genders and Rights in Asia was organised by the Australian National University and Mahidol University and held in Bangkok, Thailand from 7–9 July 2005. The conference had difficulties raising funds because many donors had been exhausted by the recent tsunami relief effort. Furthermore, many of them also had policies where their contributions should be linked to health issues. This made it hard for the conference to include thematic streams that dealt with identity and representation not connected with HIV/AIDS. Singapore's People Like Us 3 rendered financial assistance which made possible the "Cinema and Media" thematic stream, in particular the panel on Asian Queer Filmmakers, by funding scholarships for speakers from poorer countries who would present papers on this subject. Fridae was also another proud Singaporean sponsor of the conference. Over 200 papers were presented, including studies by Singaporean and Singapore-based researchers.

Tan argued that Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong’s June 2003 statement, that the Government would employ gays even in 'sensitive' positions provided that these civil servants openly declared their sexual orientation, was not a discourse of tolerance. Data gathered from Tan's fieldwork suggested that while gay Singaporeans welcomed the statement, they also strongly doubted the Government’s sincerity. When civil servants in Tan's survey pool were asked whether their individual ministries or statutory boards had done anything to realise the statement, the answer was a uniformly resounding 'No!'

IndigNation

In August 2005, gay activists, bolstered by broad-based grassroots support organised Singapore's inaugural month-long gay pride celebration called IndigNation. The latter moniker was a clever play of words representing the gay community's displeasure at the unexpected official ban of the annual Nation mega-parties which had been approved and held without incident 4 years in a row prior to 2005.

Same-sex love in classical Chinese literature

The first talk of the "festival" was delivered in Mandarin by Dr. Tan Chong Kee to a capacity audience at 7:30pm on 2 August 2005 at Xposé Café, Bar and Restaurant. Its management allowed free use of the premises to conduct the historic event, namely, the first widely advertised talk on homosexuality, open to all and held in a public indoor venue ever to take place in Singapore since Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong's 2004 liberalisation of the rules governing public talks in indoor areas. Dr. Tan,[3] who had conducted extensive research into Chinese civilization, challenged the notion that same-sex love was contrary to Asian culture. He traced and explored various ancient classical Chinese texts to demonstrate that same-sex love had been an integral part of Asian life.

Notes

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