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First center for Transgender youth to open in Singapore

Written by gaytourism

Singapore activist to open first center for transgender youth (Photo: Facebook)

Prominent Singapore transgender activist June Chua is launching a community center aimed at the city-state’s transgender youth.

The Alicia Community Center, slated to open in November, will include a museum of Singapore transgender history, a library of transgender and LGBTI resources, and peer to peer counseling services.

‘If you are a transgender person in Singapore where can you go?’ Chua asked. ‘We have no cafes or discos’.

‘I want to create a safe space where young transgender people can come’ she told Gay Star News. ‘They can mingle here, they don’t have to go on the internet’.

Transgender people in Singapore are marginalized. What’s more, many are rejected by their families and struggle to find employment.

That’s why, in 2014, Chua established the T Project. ‘We cover their basic needs, finding accommodation, social services, and jobs’ she said. With the center successfully running for four years, Chua said, it was time for a new project. ‘It’s about empowerment’.

the t project singapore

June Chua, founder of The T Project

Singapore’s transgender history

The 300 square foot center will serve as a base for Chua and her team to conduct research on the transgender community.

A recent trip to the US inspired Chua. Importantly, she found in one state alone there could be more than 60 LGBTI organizations and centers.

What’s more the center will find out more about the community. At present, no one knows how many transgender people live in Singapore. Researchers usually investigate the community in relation to HIV and AIDS or sex work.

A museum will celebrate Singapore’s transgender history. For example, Chua will show the life of transgender actress Zhen Zhen, who starred in 1979 Hollywood movie Saint Jack.

While transgender history is finally being celebrated in the US and elsewhere, it does not always chime with the Asian transgender experience, said Chua. ‘It’s time to find the Asian transgender icon’, she said.

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Section 377A

Amid an ugly debate around decriminalizing gay sex in Singapore, Chua said it was ‘not all doom and gloom’ for LGBTI Singaporeans.

She therefore relished the opportunity to reach out beyond the community. Importantly, she is planning a guidebook for cisgender Singaporeans on why its important to avoid negative language and to use the right pronouns.

‘Its not about laws and policies, its about attitudes.’ She wants to reach cisgender Singaporeans and dismantle transgender stereotypes.

‘When society’s perspective of us changes, policies will also change’ she said.

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