Heckin' Unicorn Blog

Content warning: some of the stories below mention self-hate, self-harm, suicidal thoughts, and familial rejection. We’ve added content warnings ...

Schools in Singapore have been suppressing, erasing, and bullying LGBTQ+ folks for decades. Yet this form of institutionalised discrimination has been so successful that most people don’t even notice that it exists.

Here’s how it works. 

In recent months, the topic of “conversion therapy” piqued public interest. Heated arguments were made for and against “conversion therapy” programmes, but few featured the voices of abuse survivors. This article takes a comprehensive look at so-called “conversion therapy” practices in Singapore. Here’s everything you need to know.

Tom’s parents enlisted the help of their church to perform abusive acts on their son — all with the hopes of turning him straight.

Ustazs convinced Iani’s parents that an evil spirit was causing their child to be lesbian. They engaged in “conversion therapy” practices until Iani collapsed from a mental breakdown.

For nearly 30 years, an unassuming church in Singapore has been providing “counselling” services to LGBTQ+ folks. One man tells us how it destroyed his life.

Nonbinary (or non-binary) folks don't identify with either the male or female gender, and are hence said to be “beyond the gender binary” (the “gender binary” refers to the false idea that there are only 2 genders). Some nonbinary folks identify with a mix of male and female genders, with a gender that falls beyond male or female, or with no gender at all. 

The bisexual and pansexual online communities appear to be at war with each other. 

And it’s painful to watch, to say the least. Insults are hurled around as people from both camps call each other’s sexuality exclusive, transphobic, harmful, fake. 

But why is this happening? How did members of the LGBTQ+ community — a community that’s all about diversity — end up attacking each other with such vehemence? 

LGBTQ+ issues are never the top priority during an election. But it might surprise you to know that in GE2020, some parties’ policies would positively impact the LGBTQ+ community—indirectly, at least. We thought it’ll be worthwhile to spend some time to summarize how each party’s manifesto affects our community.

So it has begun. On 10th July 2020, Singapore will head to the polls to vote in the General Election. And it’s going to be a pretty weird one. 

LGBTQ+ people in Singapore are systematically disadvantaged in financial, legal, and psychological ways. So for the people in the community and allies who believe in electing a more inclusive government, here’s a rundown for you to make a more informed decision. 

LGBT individuals in Singapore face harsh setbacks in their quality and cost of living. Many of these can be traced back to S377A and marriage laws, which legitimise all institutional discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community. Here are all the ways LGBTQ+ people are paying for being queer in Singapore.

Nearly all aspects of life in Singapore are systematically filtered by large, powerful institutions to remove, reduce, and vilify LGBTQ+ voices. Here's all the ways LGBTQ+ representation is systematically, actively, and pervasively removed from Singapore’s society.