Gay men in the Singapore Armed Forces

All male Singaporean citizens and non-first-generation permanent residents, including homosexual, bisexual and male-at-birth transgender individuals, who have reached the age of 18 years are required to enroll for National Service under the Enlistment Act. They serve a 22- or 24-month period as Full Time National Servicemen (NSFs), either in the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF), Singapore Police Force (SPF), or the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF).

The way homosexual and transgender servicemen are viewed and treated is largely dependent on the views of the regular psychiatrists who hold positions of authority in these establishments because they are the ones who write the manpower directives which govern the management of these enlistees.

Discrimination exists because the military medical authorities in Singapore still cling to the outdated concept that homosexuality is a psychiatric condition even though all medical textbooks and international psychiatric, psychological and sociological authorities have jettisoned this mistaken notion in the last century and regard homosexuality as part of the normal spectrum of human sexuality.

=Category 302=

Most of the discrimination which gay NS men face stems from Category 302, a medical code given to personnel who are "homosexuals, transvestites, paedophiles, etc."

This code was derived from an old version of the ICD's (International Classification of Diseases) codes for mental disorders. The ICD is the World Health Organisation's (WHO) health care classification system which provides a system of diagnostic codes for classifying diseases for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes.

The SAF's Category 302 bears exactly the same number as the ICD-9's (ICD-9th revision, published in the mid-1970s) codes for psychosexual disorders.

However, it must be noted that homosexuality had been declassified as a mental disorder by the World Health Organisation in 1990. Even its now-defunct ICD-9 code 302 for psychosexual disorders which included zoophilia, paedophila and satyriasis, amongst others, left out homosexuality. The ICD is currently in its 10th revision (ICD-10, published in 1992) and its Chapter V, which deals with mental and behavioural disorders, has overhauled its predecessor's codes entirely - the number 302 is nowhere to be found.

Category 302 (popularly referred to as "cat 302" or simply "302") homosexual soldiers are further classified into those "with effeminate behaviour" and those "without effeminate behaviour". It is not known why the SAF persists in using such an outdated classification of homosexuality in its assessment of the medical fitness of recruits. Homosexuality was depathologised by the American Psychiatric Association as far back as 1973, by the WHO in 1990 and is not regarded as a psychiatric condition by the local medical profession either. This refusal to jettison an archaic medical concept of homosexuality engenders discrimination because the military's grouping of homosexuality together with transvestism and paedophilia further reinforces the general public's misconception that it is abnormal.

It is therefore not surprising that "302" has become derogatory army slang for an effeminate soldier.

Category 30-B
A less well known classification is Category 30-B, a medical code given to servicemen "with effeminate behaviour not amounting to sexual disorders". These individuals are further subdivided into "mildly effeminate", "effeminate" and "severely effeminate". Presumably, this group only includes effeminate heterosexual men and not homosexuals, so there have historically been very few servicemen slapped with this label; hence, its relative obscurity.

However, since the late 2000s, this category was merged with the other sub-categories of 302.

=Management=

Self-declared or discovered servicemen are referred to the Psychological Medicine Branch of the Headquarters of Medical Services (HQMS) for a thorough psychiatric assessment, which involves their parents being called in for an interview.

They are medically downgraded to a Public Employment Status of C (PES C), regardless of their level of fitness, and put through modified Basic Military Training. On graduation, they are deployed in a vocation which has no security risks, posted to non-sensitive units and given a security status which restricts their access to classified documents.

Formerly, Category 302 personnel were not allowed to stay overnight in-camp, nor were they required to perform night duties, but these restrictions have been relaxed. Effeminate homosexuals are also posted to a holding list upon completion of National Service and not required to do reservist training, whilst non-effeminate ones have undergo it in non-sensitive units.

=Gay National Servicemen in popular culture=

Purple Light
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Videos
=Individuals who have come out about their experiences as openly gay NSmen=

Lim Chi-Sharn
Lim Chi-Sharn was the first Singaporean to come out about the declaration of his homosexuality to the Singapore Armed Forces and his experience of the medical procedure of being classified under Category 302. He wrote three seminal articles in Fridae in 2002, two of them jointly with his mother, author Christine Suchen-Lim, detailing these experiences.

Nicholas Deroose
Nicholas Deroose recounted his coming out to his fellow National Servicemen in a chapter in the book, "SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st Century".

=Forum on gay men in National Service=

On Saturday, 7 June 2014 at 7:30 pm, a forum organised by LGBT youth organisations, SG Rainbow and The Purple Alliance, was held at the arts cafe, Artistry, along Jalan Pinang. It was entitled "Fall In" and chaired by Nicholas Deroose. 4 young adult men shared their experiences and advice on serving National Service as gay individuals.

=See also=

=References=


 * Fridae articles on serving National Service as an openly gay man, by Lim Chi-Sharn and his mother, Suchen Christine Lim:,,.


 * Blowing Wind discussions on being gay in the army:

Declaring 302 status:

Is It Better To Declare Gay/302?:

NS Specialist Declaring 302 During Service:

Questions About Military/NS - Enlistment/Medical Checkup/ORD (Compiled):

=Acknowledgements=

This article was written by Roy Tan.