Semua Kita - all of us

In the next series of episodes of Semua Kita, we speak to Benedict Thambiah as he talks through his very varied experiences of being Singaporean. We start with aconversation of being born in the late 60s, growing up in Singapore in a kampung, and then moving to an HDB estate as a child. First, however, Benni talks about the important relationships in his life: family, his partner, work and close f...

In the previous episodes of Semua Kita, Dominic and Nigel spoke of how they took their duties as guardians of the web portal for the LGBTQ community very seriously. Here, they elaborate their experience of on-line websites being centres of community building, and observe what the effect of the mainstreaming of the LGBTQ culture in Singapore has had. Trevvy was a self-professed side hustle, albeit...

In this episode of Semua Kita, Nigel and Dominic reflect on the growth of Sgboy, both in terms of its on-line services as well as in the real world. We also learn about how they saw activism, and the role that Sgboy played, beyond overt programmes like Trevvy Youth and sexual health awareness, in helping to bring people together to forge a community. This sometimes involved brushes with the author...

In this first episode of Season 3 we speak to Nigel and Dominic who, in the late 90s, set up and ran the iconic website Sgboy. Their forum pages were a lifeline for young gay Singaporeans coming out for the first time as a place to meet, ask questions and find answers. Before Sgboy was set up, what were the early days of the internet like for gay Singaporeans? What was the motivation for a young N...

Welcome back to Semua Kita, a podcast about queer lives in Singapore from the 1980s until the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 2023. In season 3 we hear from even more LGBTQ Singaporeans about what it was like growing up in Singapore and discovering who you are. We hear about virtual spaces where people could meet, where friendships could be made and where love could be found. And we learn wh...

In this last episode of Season 2, Stuart reflects on a lifetime of being gay in Singapore and how a new generation of LGBTQ Singaporeans is stepping into the limelight. He talks about how Singaporean culture is generally more open than societies in the West and therefore not intrinsically prejudiced, and how it is important to build coalitions in order to bring about change. While no longer in the...

In this episode Stuart talks to us about discrimination in general and its relationship to the decriminalisation process and other legal change. He explains that the advocacy had had an effect, even if it was indirectly, and how confrontational politics does not work in Singapore. How does this affect the advocacy around workplace discrimination and marriage equality? First, however, he discusses...

At the turn of the century opportunities arose through which legal and constitutional challenges to Section 377A, the law which criminalized homosexuality, could be made. There was not much optimism that any of these would be successful. In this episode Stuart explains how he thinks parliamentary change works and how an oficial review of the Penal Code led to the galvanizing of the community throu...

The offices at fridae.com served as the venue where many of the initial ideas for Pink Dot coalesced. Stuart tells us more about these early meetings. Over its time, fridae.com faced many different challenges and Stuart learned much about how to run a business through all the difficulties. For personal reasons he needed to exit the company. In this episode he tells us why. He also reflects on the...

We heard previously how the Nation Party began as a means of generating additional financial support for fridae.com. In 2001 the first event had proven to be such a success it spawned a succession of other parties throughout the year. It grew so large that it attracted participants from all walks of life as well as people from around Asia and beyond. It changed how people saw themselves, and allow...

In this episode, Stuart talks about setting up fridae.com, the background against which the idea for this web portal was formed, its role as a social enterprise and its timing with challenges like the Asian financial crisis and how it leveraged the rise of the internet. He discusses its importance as a way of creating a community when people were still fearful of reaching out to others like them....

In many ways, Stuart Koe is an "OG" or Original Gay. As a change-maker, he had a front row seat at what was taking place in Singapore's LGBTQ community around the turn of the millennium, particularly with his leadership roles in Action for AIDS, fridae.com, the Nation Parties, the review of the Penal Code and even Pink Dot. In the next series of episodes of Semua Kita, Stuart tells us many of his...

June agreed to be interviewed by Semua Kita while at the ILGA Conference in Nepal in 2025. In this episode she talks about how her work in Singapore for the trans community has created opportunities like that for her to travel and meet other activists. She also discusses her philosophy that services provided to the transgender community should not be funded by the community, and explores the strat...

What does success mean for the T Project? In this episode we hear about the services which the T Project now offers beyond the shelter, including counselling services and the hosting of community events. June goes into some of the hurdles which were overcome, including navigating Singapore's company registration system which tends to be unsupportive of LGBTQ organizations. She also lets us kno...

June reluctantly gave up sex work after 20 years. In this episode she talks about why she decided to move on. She also details her path into the T Project and the Alicia community centre, and what she learned along the way. There were many challenges for a "sex worker of 20 years with only 'O'-levels" to set up a shelter for homeless trans sex workers without savings, but June al...

In this episode of Semua Kita, June tells us about the many choices she made: to choose familial love, to choose sex work, to choose not to have a relationship. She describes the hierarchy of the brothels where she worked, her relationship to other sex workers and her clients from office workers in shirts and ties to migrant workers. For her, sex work was a lucrative career and one which she misse...

In the next few episodes of Semua Kita we speak to June Chua. She is a well-known trans activist who founded a shelter for homeless trans women in Singapore called the T Project. In this episode she tells us about growing up as a non-gender conforming child, but how she was never aware of this until she got to secondary school. There, being called names like "bapok" and "ah-kwa&quot...

Gary worked for Max for a few years, including setting up events in Batam, creating networks between other queer businesses and building platforms for other marginalized groups within the queer community in Singapore. In this episode of Semua Kita he tells us why he eventually felt a need to move on and what his regrets in doing so were. From it's heyday around the turn of the millennium, quee...

In the previous episode of Semua Kita, we heard how coming out and connecting with a gay community was an adventure, but how did Garry also manage this while doing his national service? First, however, he shares where he sourced the outfits which gave him the edge while clubbing on a Sunday night. In episodes 6 to 8 this season we spoke to Max Lim who ran many gay spaces in Singapore. Garry worked...

In this episode of Semua Kita we hear more about Garry's first boy crush, how he gradually came to the realization that he was gay and what exploring a relationship with someone who was an equal novice was like. Eventually, Garry found a new chosen family in a bar in Chinatown called Niche, where he observed how the community organized itself into one providing care and support under the glamorous...

In the next few episodes of Semua Kita we sit down with Garry Moss, a well-known figure on the gay scene in Singapore and an organizer of many groups and events. How did he get to where he is? In this podcast he tells us about his childhood, and his experience of feeling like an outsider, not because of his sexuality, but because he is Eurasian, an ethnic minority on the island. This sense of diff...

In this final episode with Vanessa, we talk about how she managed her work-life balance, particularly when the fires of youth die down in the face of tasks which never end. She tells us about the increasing diversity of the queer community in the wake of the decriminalization of homosexuality and how the dream of a more inclusive society had led to new initiatives. How does political change happen...

In this episode of Semua Kita, Vanessa tells us about the changes which have taken place since she has been with Project X. In particular, she identifies generational differences in the trans rights struggle and how the emphasis has moved from gender recognition to gender identity. She also talks about the work that Project X does, both serving the immediate needs of its clients while also working...

Over the last few episodes we heard from Selena about her role in Project X. In the next few episodes we speak to Vanessa Ho who runs the advocacy and support group for sex workers in Singapore and explore her reflections on organizing and activism on the island. In this episode Vanessa talks to us about her journey into the organization, and how her experiences of marginalization as a queer women...

In the final of this series of episodes featuring Selina, we hear about how she discovered a new direction working for Project X, a non-profit providing social, emotional and health services to people in the sex industry in Singapore. Now that Selina is in a more stable position, she has also had the opportunity to look back on her life, reflect on what she has achieved, and plan for the years to...