There are no statistics on how many LGBT people there are in Singapore or what percentage of the population they constitute. While homosexuality is legal in the country, the country is largely conservative.

Notable persons identifying as LGBT

Historical

Paddy Chew Paddy Chew (; 29 March 1960 – 21 August 1999) was the first Singaporean person with HIV/AIDS to come out to the general public. Early life He attended St. Stephen's School and St. Patrick's School before becoming a flight steward. He worked ...

was the first Singaporean to publicly declare his HIV-positive status. He came out on 12 December 1998 during the

First National AIDS Conference in Singapore First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

. He identified his orientation as

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

. His affliction was dramatised in a play called ''Completely With/Out Character'' produced by

The Necessary Stage The Necessary Stage (previously known as M1 Theatre Connect and M1 Youth Connection) is a Singaporean non-profit theatre company with charity status. Formed in 1987 by Alvin Tan, The Necessary Stage was established with its own mission to creat ...

, directed by Alvin Tan and written by

Haresh Sharma Haresh Sharma (born 1965) is a Singaporean playwright. To date, he has written more than 100 plays that have been staged all over the world, including Singapore, Melbourne, Glasgow, Birmingham, Cairo and London. Sharma has a BA from the Nationa ...

, staged in May 1999. He died on 21 August 1999, shortly after the play's run ended. *

Arthur Yap Arthur Yap Chioh Hiong (; 1943 – 19 June 2006) was a Singaporean poet, writer and painter. Biography Arthur Yap was born in Singapore, the sixth child of a carpenter and a housewife. Yap attended St Andrew's School and the University of Si ...

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 Singapore Health Services (SingHealth) is Singapore's largest group of healthcare institutions. The group was formed in 2000 and consists of four public hospitals, three community hospitals, five national specialty centres and a network of eig ...

where he was a patient.

Arts personalities

Cyril Wong Cyril Wong (; born 27 June 1977) is a poet, fiction author and literary critic. Biography Born in 1977, Cyril Wong attended Saint Patrick's School, Singapore, and Temasek Junior College, before completing a doctoral degree in English literature ...

, poet. *

Alfian Sa'at Alfian bin Sa'at (born 18 July 1977), best known as Alfian Sa'at, is a prolific Singaporean playwright, poet, and writer. He is known for penning a body of plays, poems, and prose that often tackle issues considered taboo in the island-state, ...

, 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.

Politicians

Vincent Wijeysingha Dr. Vincent Wijeysingha (born 2 May 1970) is an academic, civil activist and politician from Singapore. He was a member of the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) 2010 to 2013. He served as the party's Treasurer and stood as a parliame ...

; 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.

Cyberspace

Singapore has particularly established

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

portals owing to its high Internet penetration rates and the restriction on LGBT content in print and broadcast media. * Blowing Wind Gay Forum 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. 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 Theresa Goh Rui Si BBM (; born 16 February 1987) is a Singaporean swimmer and Paralympic medalist, with a bronze at the SB4 100m breaststroke at the 2016 Summer Paralympics. She holds the world records for the SB4 50 metres and 200 m ...

and the host of

Drag Race Thailand ''Drag Race Thailand'' is a Thai reality competition show based on the American version with RuPaul. The series was licensed by the Kantana Group and premiered on 15 February 2018. The show is hosted by fashion stylist Art Arya, while drag per ...

Pangina Heals Pan Pan Narkprasert ( th, ปันปัน นาคประเสริฐ; born July 22, 1988), known as Pangina Heals, is a Thai drag queen and judge on '' Drag Race Thailand'', who later went on to compete on '' RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs th ...

. * Fridae.asia is an English-language LGBT news and social networking portal founded in 2000 by Stuart Koe. Fridae was popular during the early 2000s, but has become largely inactive during the 2010s. *

Gay SG Confessions ''Gay'' is a term that Terminology of homosexuality, primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to Gay men, ...

, 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 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". 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.

Organisations supporting LGBT rights

* The Free Community Church *

Pelangi Pride Centre Pelangi (means Rainbow in English) was 24-hour Indonesian language channel which broadcasts Indonesian films and dramas (as of 2011). This channel was only available on Astro in the Indo Pek package. Most of the programmes are available in Ma ...

(PPC), Singapore's first LGBT Centre

References

{{SingaporeLGBTTopics LGBT in Singapore