How the Singapore government discriminates against its LGBTQ+ citizens — Sources

This page contains the list of sources for our video "How the Singapore government discriminates against its LGBTQ+ citizens". 

Sources: 

1. Minister K. Shanmugam's residence (26 Ridout Road) is large enough to house up to 1,000 households. The full explanation is also provided at the end of the video itself. 26 Ridout Road has a land area of around 23,000sqm. Based on Google Earth's data, we can see that a 22,000sqm plot of land in Punggol houses 8 apartment blocks. If the central garden space is removed, an additional 4 blocks can be added. According to PropertyGuru, each of these blocks has 88 apartment units. Simple calculation tells us that a 22,000sqm plot of land that can fit 8–12 apartment blocks would be able to house 704–1,056 apartment units. 
2. Singapore's Workplace Fairness Act 2025 explicitly excludes sexual orientation and gender identity from the list of protected characteristics. s8 of the Act lists the protected characteristics (which do not include sexual orientation and gender identity), and s10(2)(a) and s10(2)(b) further clarify that sexual orientation and gender identity are not included. 
3. We've published a separate video that contains the full details on how Singapore's housing policies discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. Sources for that video can be found here. 
4. 2-room flexi flats are 2-3x smaller than the most common 4- and 5-room flats. HDB provides the standard sizes of flats: 2-room (alt), 4-room, 5-room. A 4-room flat is 2.5x the size of a small 2-room flexi, and a 5-room flat is 3.05x the size. According to SingStat, 53.4% of households live in 4-room flats and larger (HDB flats), making them the most common type.
5. This article provides the median cost of a private condo and HDB flat in 2024: S$1.78m and S$590k respectively. 
6. HDB's Resale Price Index shows that resale prices grew by 63.9% from 2010–2024. SingStat's Consumer Price Index shows that inflation between 2010–2024 is about 33.1%. A simple adjustment for inflation shows that resale prices grew by 23.1% (1.639 ÷ 1.331 = 1.231). 
7. The BTO Windfall effect is estimated to provide 60%–156% of capital gains. 
8. Sayoni's 2020 survey found that almost 20% of respondents live with families that are hostile to their queer identity. 
9. We've published a separate video that contains more details on how the Singapore government, through IMDA, censors queer existence in almost all media spaces. More details on specific IMDA guidelines can also be found here.
   1. IMDA's guidelines for radio stations describe queerness as "lifestyles" that can be "promoted", and classifies queer identities together with paedophilia and incest. 
   2. Local TV channels cannot broadcast anything above PG13.
   3. Infrequent hugging of a same-sex couple can get R18 ratings, whereas infrequent simulated straight sex scenes only gets Advisory 16. R18 is the only rating that requires venues / organisers to enforce age restrictions for entertainment events. 
10. We've published an article about how schools in Singapore suppress LGBTQ+ identities.
11. In 2021, a Reddit user claimed that her school in Singapore blocked her hormone therapy, even though her dad and doctor approved it.
12. The Ministry of Education denied interfering with the student's hormone therapy. 
13. Oogachaga verified that the experience reported by the student, Ashlee, is not unique. A member of TransgenderSG's team also claimed that much worse cases have happened before.
    
14. TransgenderSG's 2025 survey found that 72% of trans students reported negative experiences associated with their trans identity at school (page 31), and that 26% of trans students didn’t feel safe at school (page 33).
15. Some teachers have said that students who have questions are often referred to school counsellors, who would often wrongly classify such identities as psychological issues. It’s also generally understood that school counsellors would out queer students to their parents without consent. 
16. Queer teachers have came out to say that they feel pressured to stay closeted in school. 
17. A local university has allegedly repeatedly censored their queer student group's activities and placed disproportionate scrutiny on them. 
18. TransgenderSG's 2025 survey found that trans university graduates have an unemployment rate of 10.83%, compared to the annual unemployment rate of citizens of 2.8% for June 2024 (page 37). 
19. A 2018 Asia Pacific Transgender Network study found that non-transgender job applicants received over 80% more positive responses than trans applicants of the same qualifications and experience. 
20. A 2022 workplace discrimination study by AWARE found that LGBTQ+ persons are one of the groups that are more vulnerable to discrimination at work (68% vs 56%). 
    
21. Anecdotally, Oogachaga has also reported that lesbian women counselled by them were harassed at work for how they dressed or looked, and that trans men and women were asked inappropriate personal questions about their sexual and relationship history during job interviews. 
    
22. A 2023 local study found that only 12% of 320 surveyed medical students  could answer 11 true-false questions about LGBTQ+ health correctly. 
23. TransgenderSG's 2025 survey found that 32.44% of trans respondents agreed that their mental healthcare doctors (such as psychiatrists or psychologists) in Singapore were well-informed on transgender issues (page 52). 
24. Oogachaga’s 2024 survey of over 680 people found that 41.5% faced difficulties in accessing healthcare services (page 4). 
25. TransgenderSG's 2025 survey found that 28.76% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed that they avoided seeking general healthcare, fearing that they would be harassed for their transgender identity (page 50). 42.89% of respondents avoided seeking reproductive and sexual healthcare services (such as a pap smear or HIV testing) due to discomfort over how they would be perceived or treated (page 50). 
26. TransgenderSG's 2025 survey included various testimonies from trans people about gender-affirming healthcare in Singapore (various pages).
27. Healthcare professionals all over the world typically refer to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health for updated, evidence-based guidelines with regards to transgender health. The latest guideline is the “Standards of Care for the Health of Transgender and Gender Diverse People, Version 8” (SOC 8), which was published in September 2022. 
28. Oogachaga’s 2024 survey found that almost 80% of queer respondents reported experiencing persistent feelings of downheartedness, sadness, and unhappiness (page 29). Almost 30% of respondents also likely experience severe or moderately severe depression (page 32). 
29. The PAP's senior politicians have in previous general elections claimed that there is no guarantee that they will continue to form government after the election (GE2015, GE2020, GE2025). 
30. PAP's historical general election results can be found here: 2020, 2015, 2011, 2006, 2001, 1997, 1991, 1988, 1984, 1980, 1976, 1972, 1968. They have never won less than 89% of parliamentary seats since the country's independence. 
31. In GE2011, PAP would hypothetically need to lose 10.08% of votes uniformly across all electoral districts in order to lose an additional 38 seats to not have the 50% of parliamentary seats needed to form government. 
32. In GE2020, PAP would hypothetically need to lose 12.92% of votes uniformly across all electoral districts in order to lose an additional 37 seats to not have the 50% of parliamentary seats needed to form government.