Transgender people in Singapore

Transgender people in Singapore have a substantial history and have developed a vibrant subculture. Not immediately apparent to Singapore's mainstream society is the fact that the gay community sees itself as a totally separate entity from the various transgender communities which include cross-dressers, transwomen and transmen. Each constitutes an individual subculture with many different priorities and concerns.

(For scientific and slang words in Singapore's four official and other minority languages used to describe transvestites, transgender people and transsexuals, see Singapore gay terminology)

=Mak nyah=

A large body of research on the Malay transgender, cross-dressing and transsexual communities has been published by female sociologist Teh Yik Koon from the School of Social Development, University Utara Malaysia. It is detailed in her groundbreaking and seminal work, "The Mak Nyahs: Malaysian Male to Female Transsexuals" (Singapore: Eastern Universities Press, 2002, viii + 175pp., ISBN 9812102094). Many of the findings are also applicable to local mak nyahs as Singaporean and Malaysian Malays largely share a common culture. (Read a tabloid article about a contemporary mak nyah stage performer:

There is far less information available on trans men, that is, female-to-male transgender people, as they are much less visible. It should also be noted that not all trans women casually solicit sex or prostitute themselves, although it is sometimes the only paid work available to them.



=Venues=

Trans women generally cruise and congregate in different areas from gay men. They seek heterosexual men with whom they socialise, have free sex or perform sexual services for a fee. They also bond socially with each other at these venues.

Bugis Street

 * Main article: Bugis Street

One of Singapore's most famous tourist meccas since the 1950s, renowned internationally for its nightly parade of flamboyantly dressed trans women, Bugis Street attracted hordes of Caucasian gawkers who had never witnessed Asian queens in full regalia.



The latter would tease, cajole and sit on visitors' laps or pose for photographs for a fee. The amount of revenue that they raked in was considerable, providing a booster shot in the arm for the tourism industry. Veterans recall that the notorious drinking section began from Victoria Street west to Queen Street. Halfway between Victoria and Queen Streets, there was an intersecting lane parallel to the main roads, also lined with al fresco bars. There was a well-patronised public toilet with a flat roof of which there are archival photos, complete with jubilant rooftop transwomen. The earliest published description of Bugis Street found by Yawning Bread as a place of great gender diversity was in the book "Eastern Windows" by Ommaney, F.D. (1960. London:Longmans. pp. 39-45). Ommaney did not date specifically his description of the street but his book made clear that he was in Singapore from 1955 to 1960. Read a first-person account of Bugis Street in the 1950s by Bob, a visiting Australian sailor:

In the mid-1980s, Bugis Street underwent major urban redevelopment into a retail complex of modern shopping malls, restaurants and nightspots mixed with regulated back-alley roadside vendors. Underground digging to construct the Bugis MRT station prior to that also caused the upheaval and termination of nightly transgender sex bazaar culture, marking the end of a colourful and unique era in Singapore's history. Tourist and local lamentation of the loss sparked attempts by the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (STPB) to attempt to recreate some of the old sleazy splendour by staging contrived "Ah Qua shows" on wooden platforms, but these artificial performances fell flat on their faces and failed to pull in the crowds. They were abandoned after a short time.

Bugis Street was immortalised in an English-language film made, ironically, by a Hong Kong film company which did employ some local talent in its production (see main article Bugis Street (the movie)).

Johore Road
Formerly located between and parallel to Queen Street and Victoria Street, and bisected by Ophir Road, it was the less well-known cousin of its glamourous counterpart, Bugis Street, just a stone's throw away. It was the seedy haunt of transgender prostitutes who solicited sex from locals, away from the glare of Western tourists. No photographs or media attention were focussed on this street of ill-repute; only a no-frills approach to an economic exchange.



It was one of the few roads to be completely erased from the map of Singapore after a fire in the late 90s, to be replaced by an unnamed park next to the Bugis MRT station and the Victoria Street Wholesale Centre.

Boom Boom Room
Singapore's only drag queen cabaret nightclub and thought by many also to be Singapore's only real national institution in the same uninhibited spirit as the original Bugis Street. It is the namesake of John Lee Hooker's legendary blues club in San Francisco, shooting to international fame when the postmodernist magazine Wallpaper called it "our top pick for a good night out in all of Asia!"

Originally established by owner Alan Koh in 1993 at 4 New Bugis Street in Bugis Village, it later relocated on 2 April 2000 to the second floor of the old 2-storey Chui Eng Free School schoolhouse at 130-132 Amoy Street, Far East Square, Singapore 049959 (tel: 6435 0030) (a 10-minute walk from the Raffles Place MRT station)(https://www.facebook.com/pages/Boom-Boom-Room/173947755949222). The new venue, which was reputed to have the best Singapore Sling in town, had a restaurant downstairs for informal and outdoor dining.



Its overwhelming attraction were the risque comedy routines by local drag superstar Kumar who took no-holds-barred digs at topics close to the hearts of Singaporeans. He was aided by his coterie of flamboyant, dazzlingly costumed, cross-dressing backups, nubile toyboys and other straight stand-up comedian/comedienne friends.



The first performance debuted on 18 August 2000. There were 2 shows each night and outrageous wisecracks, in raw Singlish which made the banter difficult for tourists to understand, were interspersed with DJs playing the latest chart tunes. Members of the audience sitting next to the stage ran the highest risk of being drawn into the performance.

It was patronised by a largely heterosexual audience who danced wildly during the intervals between each show, but Tuesday nights were gay with access granted to password holders only.

It closed after 12 years on 15 January 2005 to enable its artistes to move on to fresh creative pursuits. However, many thought other reasons were that the shows were getting stale, the drag queens were getting old (Kumar was 36) with no fresh blood to carry the torch and the existing ones not having what it took, and the club's poor location. It spawned a spoof version called the Bang Bang Room at Changi Village which held late night performances every weekend.

Gold Dust
Gold Dust opened in July 2005, 6 months after the closure of Boom Boom Room and was located on level 2 of the rear block of Orchard Towers along Orchard Road. Operating hours were from 8pm to 3am on weekdays and 8pm to 4am on weekends. The age restriction for patrons was 25 years and above. The dress code was smart casual - no shorts, singlets or slippers. Entrance charges, inclusive of 1 drink were $22 on weekdays and $28 on weekends. It set up a now-defunct website: thegolddustclub.com.

Gold Dust was Singapore's second drag queen cabaret nightclub and theatre bar, a joint venture between Kumar, then 37, and partner Gwen Koh, 45, who also owned the 3 Monkeys Restaurant in Orchard Towers. Together, they spent $50,000 to open the venue.

Aiming for the high-end market, Gold Dust boasted professional dancers with flamboyant mardi gras-type costumes and real women dancing alongside drag performers. Kumar's trademark provocative jokes were still the main focus, but now framed in a classier and more streamlined show. He aimed to capture the cozy feel and stylish look of New York-style theatre bars. Thus, the 3,000 sq ft club had no dance floor and all the chairs and tables faced the stage. It could hold 180 people, and had the feel of a 1970s glam disco, updated for the new generation. Instead of young National Servicemen and students, who formed a significant part of the Boom Boom Room client?le, Gold Dust intended to target a slightly more upper-crust crowd.

The main aim of the theatre bar was to showcase talent. In addition to the cabaret dances and stand-up comedy staples, it considered expanding the shows to include mime, monologues, plays and singing.

Partner Kumar decided to open the venture because he needed a steady income stream, as well as a home base for his stand-up performances. Although the bar was located in the back block of Orchard Towers where Harry's Bar and Jason's supermarket resided, some felt that the idea of a bar next to the infamous '4 floors of whores' might not appeal to some patrons. However, Kumar felt that Orchard Towers was always known to be a controversial place, and since he was also a controversial performer who pushed the boundaries, it made sense for the bar to be based there.'

For the first time, Kumar's show incorporated 2 female professional dancers, Samantha Kan, 24, and Aslinda, 23. There were only male dancers at the Boom Boom Room. He always felt that the latter was lacking something and now he realised that it was girls.

Desker Road vicinity
A well-known area for men seeking the services of real woman prostitutes in the Serangoon or Little India area for decades, it attracted many of the transgender street-walkers from nearby Johore Road after the latter was erased from the map by a fire in the late 1990s.



Unlike their genotypically-female government-regulated counterparts who are on display, usually seated on armchairs or sofas in well-lit rooms, reminiscent of a low-class back-lane version of Amsterdam, the trans women of Desker Road, in contrast, cruise while standing or strolling. This is done to render their activities, which are considered illegal, less vulnerable to Vice Squad raids. The seedy atmosphere of the whole vicinity has largely disappeared due to massive redevelopment around Mustafa Centre.

Changi Village
Popular with trans women since the early 1990s and the straight men who go there to ogle at them, chat them up or use their services.

Woodlands Town Garden
A "heartland" park smack in the middle of a Housing Development Board satellite town which has recently gained notoriety for the activities of transvestites, some of whom reportedly rather aggressively solicit paid sex from casual passers-by. (Read a report by The New Paper:)

Riot!
=History=


 * Main article: Singapore transgender history

National Service
National service was implemented in 1967, whereby all 18-year old males were required to train full-time for two or two-and-a-half years, depending on their educational attainment. Transgender was listed as a condition in a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) 'Directory of Diseases' and recruits who outed themselves to the examining doctors at the Central Manpower Base (CMPB) at Dempsey Road had their 'deployability' denied in sensitive positions. They were classified as snigger-worthy Category 302 personnel, downgraded to a Public Employment Status of 3 (PES3) and assigned only clerical work at army bases.

Early sex reassignment surgery

 * Main article: Sex reassignment surgery in Singapore

As Singaporean gynaecological surgeons became more skillful, leaders in the field like Prof. S Shan Ratnam were authorised to perform male-to-female sex reassignment surgery (SRS) at Kandang Kerbau Hospital. He later trained other surgeons like Assoc. Prof. Arunachalam Ilancheran and Dr. C Ananda Kumar to undertake the procedure. The first such operation in Asia took place here in July 1971. However, before patients could go under the knife, they first had to subject themselves to an exhaustive battery of tests and be given a clean psychological bill of health by chief academic psychiatrist Prof. Tsoi Wing Foo.

Straits Times reporter Chua Meng Choo provided an exhaustive account of the first sex-change surgery done in 1971:

"The first sex change surgery in Singapore was successfully performed on 30 July 1971 at the Kandang Kerbau Hospital. The operation involved a 24-year-old man and was the first procedure of its kind performed in Singapore and in Asia. There had been previous “sex change” operations performed in Singapore, but these mostly involved patients who had both male and female genitalia (hermaphrodites) and the removal of one set of genitalia. The 1971 operation was regarded as a first because it involved a surgical conversion aimed at functionally changing a person’s sex.

Patient and diagnosis

The patient was a 24-year-old Singaporean citizen of Chinese heritage. Her name was kept secret, but her background was later made public in a book. The eldest son in a family of five with two younger sisters, her father was a dentist who was often physically violent with his wife, which caused the patient psychological trauma. As a child, the patient was raised by her grandmother, who dressed her as a female. In her teenage years, she associated with other cross-dressers before frequenting the transsexual and transvestite scene at Bugis Street as an adult.

From the age of 16, she worked as a sales assistant, a housemaid, in a bank and as a public relations officer. She later won second prize in a beauty contest and became a model. While working as a part-time model, she joined a cabaret and was known as “Mama Chan”. She also ran a social escort service.

Having lived as a woman for some time, she first consulted Professor S. S. Ratnam, a senior lecturer in the University of Singapore’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, in 1969. She had been suffering sexual and emotional problems, which had led to two suicide attempts. Ratnam explained to her that he had no experience in sex change surgery, but she continued to visit his clinic weekly. After researching the subject of transsexualism and sex reassignment surgeries, Ratnam familiarised himself with the surgical techniques by practising on cadavers.

The patient underwent a psychological analysis by a team of psychiatrists who confirmed that she was a transsexual who required surgery. A diagnosis of transsexualism requires that the patient possesses a continuous sense of inappropriateness about his or her anatomic sex, a desire to discard his or her genitalia and live as a member of the opposite sex, and the absence of physical intersex symptoms or genetic abnormalities. As well, his or her gender confusion (gender dysphoria) must not be caused by other disorders such as schizophrenia. The patient was also cautioned that the surgery would be irreversible, potentially involved a number of complications and required a prolonged follow-up period.

Legal clearance for the operation was then sought from the Ministry of Health and granted. After consideration of the patient’s psychological profile, the medical expertise involved and the approval of the Ministry, the decision was taken to proceed with the operation.

Operation and impact

The operation was performed by Ratnam and two other surgeons from the University of Singapore’s Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Associate Professor Khew Khoon Shin and plastic surgeon R. Sundarason. Photography of the operation was not permitted. Ratnam later described the three-hour operation as a success, with an uneventful post-surgery recovery. He later founded the Gender Identity Clinic specialising in sex change surgeries at the National University Hospital.

After her successful operation, the patient went on hormone treatments and was functionally a woman, with the exception of being unable to conceive or menstruate. She later married a French man and owned a travel agency in Paris, before moving to England.

The July 1971 operation paved the way for sex change surgeries in Singapore and in the region. Singapore’s first sex change operation on a woman took place three years later, between August 1974 to October 1977 (female-to-male conversions are a more complex process and involve several surgical stages). In the 1970s and 1980s, hospitals in Singapore accepted numerous sex change patients from other Southeast Asian countries, with foreigners making up around half of all surgeries performed."

Documentary
In a groundbreaking and extremely graphic documentary entitled "Shocking Asia" produced in 1974, transgender women in Singapore revealed the most intimate details about their lives and sex reassignment surgery done by pioneering surgeon, Prof. S Shan Ratnam who also granted an exclusive interview. The operation itself was shown in great detail: 

Increasing visibility in mainstream media
The first substantial mention of Singapore's transgender community was a groundbreaking 4-part feature by The New Nation entitled, "They are different..." It was published on 4 consecutive days from Monday, 24 July to Thursday, 27 July 1972 (see main article Singapore's first newspaper articles on the LGBT community).

In the 1970s, a well known transsexual model was occasionally featured in Her World magazine.

National Registration Identity Cards
In the years following Singapore's first sex reassignment operations, a number of legal issues arose for transgender individuals who had undergone a sex change. In 1973, Singapore legalised sex reassignment surgery. Thanks to the efforts of Prof. Shan S Ratnam who lobbied the government behind the scenes on compassionate grounds, a policy directive was instituted at the National Registration Department to enable post-operative transgender people to change the legal gender on their national registration identity cards (NRIC) (but not their birth certificates) and other documents which flowed from that, such as their passports.

This was revealed by Prof. Ratnam's protege, Assoc. Prof. Arunachalam Ilancheran during a television discussion forum on thirunangai, or Tamil male-to-female transgender people in 2012:



To change one's name and gender stated on one's identity card, one requires: The deed poll is a legal document which must be prepared by a lawyer. The cost ranges from SGD$60 to $100. There are many lawyers who will do this and a popular site which lists them is www.deedpoll.sg. Other lawyers may provide higher or lower rates so if one is really strapped for cash, one can consider cheaper options. After obtaining the deed poll, one must go down to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) building currently located next to Lavender MRT station. There, one must go to the NRIC (Identity card) level and approach the counter. One must tell the staff that one is there to change one's name. After queueing up, the new identity card should be ready within the hour. There are stiff penalties in Singapore for providing false information on the NRIC. So if one is unfortunate enough to receive a new card with incorrect information on it, the onus is on oneself to point out the mistake. Of course, you can also accept the mistake at one's own risk. One may regard it as fortunate to have one's sex changed on one's IC without the SRS letter of certification.
 * a deed poll
 * passport-sized photos
 * a letter of certification of sex-reassignment surgery (SRS)

Marriage certificates
The Registry of Marriages implicitly recognised marriages involving a sex change patient, as it required only an identity card to prove the different genders of the couple. There was no specific provision in the statutes which allowed the Registrar to do this, so it existed probably only at the level of a policy directive. However, for over 20 years, this policy seemed to have operated smoothly.

However in 1991, a marriage between a sex change transsexual man and a woman was declared void from the beginning by the High Court, officially making such marriages illegal in Singapore.

It was only in 1996 that the government amended the Women’s Charter to allow transsexuals to legally marry (see below).

First transgender character in a local TV production
In 1991, a Singapore Broadcasting Corporation (SBC) Channel 8 Mandarin fantasy period TV serial entitled "最后一个大侠" (literally "The last knight") featured a man named Sima Qinyun who could transform his gender to become an evil villain named 紫罗刹 (the purple killer) and also revert back at will (see YouTube video of theme song). This was groundbreaking, even though the storyline is thought to have been adapted from a wu xia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha), and even pre-dated the well known 东方不败 played by Lin Qing Xia in the eponymous hit Taiwanese film. 

Further developments in sex reassignment institutions
Later, the more technically demanding female-to-male sex reassignment surgery was also offered at Kandang Kerbau Hospital and at Alexandra Hospital, performed by gynaecologists such as Dr. Arunachalam Ilancheran. A Gender Identity Clinic (GIC) and Gender Reassignment Surgery Clinic were set up at the National University Hospital two decades later, in the early 1990s. It was headed by Prof. S Shan Ratnam until his retirement in 1995, after which leadership passed to his nephew, Dr. C Anandakumar. In fact, for 30 years, Singapore was one of the world leaders in SRS, performing more than 500 such operations. This gave a new lease of life to the many transgender individuals whose bodies did not match their gender identity. As one consequence of this, Bugis Street and Johore Road started to become populated with a range of transgender people from transvestites to iatrogenic intersex individuals to fully transformed women.

In the 1970s, a well known transsexual model was occasionally featured in Her World magazine.

Legalisation of transgender marriage
Since the mid-1970s, post-operative transsexual people had been discreetly lobbying to be given the right to get married to opposite-sex spouses. In 1996, a bill was presented before Parliament and the Women's Charter amended to read:
 * Avoidance of marriages between persons of same sex. 12.
 * (1) A marriage solemnized in Singapore or elsewhere between persons who, at the date of the marriage, are not respectively male and female shall be void. [30/96]
 * (2) It is hereby declared that, subject to sections 5, 9, 10, 11 and 22, a marriage solemnized in Singapore or elsewhere between a person who has undergone a sex re-assignment procedure and any person of the opposite sex is and shall be deemed always to have been a valid marriage. [30/96]
 * (3) For the purpose of this section
 * (a) the sex of any party to a marriage as stated at the time of the marriage in his or her identity card issued under the National Registration Act (Cap. 201) shall be prima facie evidence of the sex of the party; and
 * (b) a person who has undergone a sex re-assignment procedure shall be identified as being of the sex to which the person has been re-assigned. [30/96]
 * (4) Nothing in subsection (2) shall validate any such marriage which had been declared by the High Court before 1st May 1997 to be null and void on the ground that the parties were of the same sex.

The minister moving the bill argued that since 1973, the government's intention was for people who had changed gender/sex to live a life according to their new gender, including the right to marry. Through an oversight, the law relating to marriage had not been re-aligned with the official policy to recognise sex reassignment surgery. Now that the courts had illuminated this inconsistency after a landmark case in which a wife sought and won the annulment of her marriage to a transman (Lim Ying v Hiok Kian Ming Eric), it was necessary to amend the Women's Charter to ensure that the original intention was not undermined. Transgender people were officially granted their wish on 24 January 1996 via an announcement by PAP MP Abdullah Tarmugi without much public fanfare or opposition.

Closure, reopening and final closure of the Gender Identity Clinic
In the early 2000s, the National University Hospital's Gender Identity Clinic (GIC), an offshoot of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at Kandang Kerbau Hospital, was the only facility for sex change operations in Singapore. Although it helped to build Singapore's reputation as a top destination for sex reassignment surgery over the past 30 thirty years, its exact location within NUH and the services it provided were kept confidential because of the sensitivity of the more vocal religious fundamentalist segments of Singapore's population to sex reassignment surgery. Since 1971, when the late Prof. S Shan Ratnam performed Singapore's first sex change operation, there had been 500 such procedures. That was an average of 17 a year. But the GIC had done no male-to-female operations since 2001. Since September 2001, it had performed only four female-to-male operations.

The Ministry of Health had asked hospitals to phase out sex-change surgery in the late 1980s for fear that hospital staff might be exposed to HIV. It was also reported then that the Ministry had not considered sex-change surgery as a life-saving procedure. The objection was lifted in 2001.

The general public could not find any information on the GIC on NUH's website and it was extremely difficult to interview its then consultant, Dr. Arunachalam Ilancheran. Dr. C Anandakumar, who was the specialist-in-charge at the GIC until 2001, recounted how, during his time, consultations with transgender patients could only be done on Saturdays and after office hours, as NUH had very little interest in encouraging sex reassignment surgery. Transsexuals would also need to book themselves into single-bed wards after the operation as Dr. Anandakumar claimed "the hospital did not want the transsexuals to mix with other patients". This would push up the cost of the operation, prompting many transsexuals to head to Bangkok for more affordable treatment. However, he conceded that the situation may have changed and added that the clinic had served its purpose well.

In reply to queries from The New Paper, an NUH spokesman said, "All our patients are important to us and we care for them with respect and sensitivity due to any individual. The Gender Identity Clinic operates at the usual hours, as per all other hospital clinics. Patients stay in single room as per MOH regulation since the seventies."

Transwoman Leona Lo completed her psychiatric assessment in Singapore but elected to have her surgery performed in Bangkok. She felt that the lack of inforation about the services provided by the GIC deterred transsexuals like herself from having the operation done here. She said, "Many of us can't be bothered to find out more about the GIC as it's so secretive about its services."

In April 2001, the Gender Identity Clinic at the National University Hospital, which was the last hospital in Singapore where sex change operations were performed, closed without any fanfare. The official explanation was that the gynaecologist in charge, Dr. C Anandakumar, had left for private practice, and without him, the clinic did not have the skills to perform SRS. However, as early as 1987, the Ministry of Health had been directing hospitals to stop doing such operations on foreigners. It also discouraged them for Singaporeans, saying, "the increased danger of AIDS with such patients poses unnecessary risk to hospital staff". However, some believe that the increasing number of Christian doctors filling the administrative ranks of Singapore hospitals over the past decades had a part to play in its shutting down as cross-dressing and sex reassignment are proscribed in the Bible.

This dismayed transgender people seeking to have their operations performed locally. The online edition of the now-defunct newspaper Project Eyeball carried out a survey in June 2001 asking, "Should sex change operations be resumed in Singapore?" 39% of respondents said, "Yes, they are people with valid medical needs, like infertile couples" and 35% said, "Why not? It is legal here, as are transsexual marriages". The results showed that Singaporeans were generally quite supportive.

In June 2001, a petition organised by Jael, the founder of the transgender group "FTMs in Asia", urging the re-opening of the Gender Identity Clinic garnered 60 signatures. When asked by The New Paper about the GIC's services, an NUH spokesman replied: 'The NUH Gender Identity Clinic reopened in September 2001 to provide a service to those who request it."

The transgender community's petition was successful, with the clinic discreetly and fully resuming it services in 2003, helmed by Dr. Arunachalam Ilancheran. However, owing to the discrimination against transgender people in Singapore even within some segments of the medical community, the high financial outlay involved and the necessity for psychological clearance, many preferred to have their operations performed sans the hassles in Bangkok, which had by then become the premiere centre for sex reassignment surgery (SRS).

The Gender Identity Clinic finally closed towards the end of the 2000s. When asked by The Straits Times in 2014 about the Ministry of Health's stance on sex change surgery, its role in overseeing the procedure, and why public hospitals had stopped offering it, an MOH spokesman would only say that "sex reassignment operations are not subsidised and are performed with...safeguards".

Demand, however, had not shrunk, according to private psychiatrist Prof. Tsoi Wing Foo. Since 1971, Tsoi had seen over 2,000 transgender patients, half of whom went for surgery. A psychological assessment is needed before sexual reassignment surgery here. During the 1970s and 1980s, he had roughly 30 cases a year. From 2007 to 2014, he had seen an average of 40. He did not know why surgery options here were dwindling, but speculated that it could be due to public policy changes or the personal preferences of the few doctors who had undertaken such surgery. Dr. C Anandakumar, who was the gynaecologist in charge of the GIC until 2001, declined to speak to press when queried.

In early August 2001, Singapore's pioneer sex reassignment surgeon and co-author of the book "Cries from within", Prof. S. Shan Ratnam, passed away from pneumonia.

Beautiful boxer
In November 2001, Singapore-based Thai director Ekachai Uekrongtham announced his intention to produce a film entitled "Beautiful boxer" on the life of Thai male-to-female transsexual kick boxer, Parinya Charoenphol.

Evidence of British sailors' visits to Bugis Street in the 1960s
In November 2002, newly declassified UK naval documents revealed that possibly 50% of its servicemen had indulged in homosexual sex at some time in their naval service life and many had visited brothels in Singapore's then legendary Bugis Street in the 1960s as soon as their ship docked. A document written by the navy's medical director general in 1969, described Singapore's transwoman prostitutes as "very beautiful" and who "dress well and smell delicious" He added, "They perfect the female walk, stance and mannerisms and some even undergo surgery to complete the illusion".

First pictorial documentary on trans women
In April 2003, Select Books released Singapore's first pictorial documentary on transsexuals in Singapore and Thailand entitled, "My Sisters, their Stories", written by male-to-female transsexual, Leona Lo,.

First TV programme featuring local transwoman
On Friday, 7 January 2005 at 8:30pm Channel U broadcast Singapore's first television programme to feature a local transwoman entitled "Sense of Being". It interviewed 38-year old post-operative Malay male-to-female transsexual Amy Tashiana. Tashiana talked about her life as a former model with Carrie Models and performer at the defunct cabaret club Boom Boom Room.

=Decline in number of transgender patients seeking counselling=

In November 2005, The New Paper reported that an increasing number of transgender patients were avoiding psychiatric counselling by heading to Bangkok to have their operations done.

Singapore psychiatrist Prof. Tsoi Wing Foo had counselled 1,000 transgender patients since 1973 to see if they were ready for sex change operations. From 1995 to 2005, however, he had not counselled any female-to-male transgender patients. And he saw an average of only one transwoman patient a month. He was not alone in his concern. Psychiatrist Lionel Lim had seen only four transgender patients from 2001 to 2005, compared to one to two a month previously. And Dr. Simon Siew, also a psychiatrist, had not seen any from 2004 to 2005.

There were a few reasons. One was that many transwomen went to Bangkok for the operation, where it was often "pay up, few questions asked, snip, and take the flight home". It was cheaper by half and faster. Transsexuals said a male-to-female operation in Bangkok would cost between SGD$3,000 and $6,000, while the same operation here would cost double that figure.

=Transgender organisations=


 * Main article: Singapore transgender organisations


 * SgButterfly, - Singapore's first and largest transgender web portal and support group founded by a heterosexual man, Daniel Kaw.


 * SgGurls, - singapore's second transwoman support group which seeks a higher social profile and aims to reach out to mainstream society.


 * Sisters In Solidarity - a transwoman support group formed by Marla Bendini and Tricia Leong in 2009 to combat discrimination against transgender women in Singapore.


 * Transgender Alliance - an amalgamation of the 2 transgender social and info networks, SgGurls and SgButterfly, and a sister group, Project X, an advocacy group for transgender people working in the sex industry.


 * Project X, - an advocacy group for transgender people working in the sex industry. Project X believes that sex work is a legitimate form of work and that sex workers should not be criminalised alongside murderers and thieves. As such, sex workers’ rights are also human rights.


 * Forgot To Mention - Singapore's first female-to-male transgender group. It was formed in 2013.


 * Transgender Pride - a transgender Facebook page started on 18 July 2013.


 * SgCrossDressers - a closed Facebook group created only for Singapore male-to-female cross dressers in 2013. It promotes and encourages like-minded individuals to interact and exchange ideas, share the journey of the cross dressing life and provide support in this very special community. The founders strive to make the group grow in a clean and secure environment. People with fake profiles and undesirable admirers are not welcome. To join, one needs to have a genuine face picture in one's profile. Its first administrator was Jamie Lee.

=Personalities=

Transwomen

 * Amy Tashiana






 * Leona Lo ,,




 * Abigail Chay


 * Tricia Leong


 * Fanny Ler


 * Marla Bendini

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Trans men

 * Joe Wong
 * Christopher Khor
 * Alexander Teh

Cross-dressing gay artistes

 * Kumar


 * Ivan Heng

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 * Becca D'Bus


 * Sammi Zhen

Heterosexual part-time cross-dressing artistes

 * Jack Neo

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=Books=


 * Sisterhood by Leona Lo (Select Books, 2003, ISBN: 981047198X)- a personalised emotional expose of the local transvestite and transsexual community by an intellectual transwoman herself.
 * My Sisters: Their Stories by Leona Lo and Lance Lee (Viscom Editions Pte Ltd)
 * Cries from Within by S. Shan Ratnam; Victor H. H. Goh and Tsoi Wing Foo- a tome on sex-reassignment surgery and its attendant psychological considerations by two eminent gynaecologists and a psychiatrist.

=See also=


 * Medical problems of transgender people
 * SgButterfly

=External links and references=


 * Alex Au, "Singapore: a woman with a past", Yawning Bread, July 2005
 * Alex Au, "Marriage for sex-changed persons", Yawning Bread, September 2005.
 * Transgender Asia
 * SgButterfly - Singapore Transgender Community Portal
 * Tiffany Gwee, 'Danielle’s story: The Life of a Transsexual in Singapore', The Online Citizen, 3 February 2014.
 * 'SG Transgender Sex workers represented in ICAAP', The Online Citizen, 26 November 2013.
 * Ms Chor Lor.com, blog of a Singapore transgender.
 * "In transit: the invisible lives of Singapore's transgenders", article in "Coconuts Singapore" blog, 23 January 2015.
 * Andrea James, "Singapore name change for transgender people ", Trans Road Map, 31 May 2015.
 * Seow Yun Rong, "Mum, am I a boy or a girl? Singaporean transgender individuals open up about struggles", The New Paper, 13 December 2015.
 * "Short cut to confusion?", SgForums, 22 November 2005.

=Acknowledgements=

This article was started by Roy Tan based on his personal experiences, verbal accounts provided by friends, and information on Yawning Bread, Fridae, SiGNeL and other Internet sources. Additional information was also contributed by transgender users of Wikipedia and SgWiki.