Singapore lesbian organisations

Contemporary

Real world

Advocacy

Sayoni

• Sayoni [1] - a Singapore-based platform for Asian queer women, comprising a blog [2], and a forum [3]. Founded by a group of women from diverse backgrounds, age groups, economic status and ethnicity, it aims to empower queer women via a two-pronged approach to encourage dialogue within the community and to educate the general public. Both its media are open to public view.

Subsidiary websites of Sayoni:

• COuCH (Couch.sg; Come Out, Come Home)[4],[5] - a national movement to encourage LGBTQ persons and allies who are ready to come out and feel at home in Singapore. It was launched during the opening event of IndigNation 2012.

When one is ready, coming out to the people around oneself has a major impact on changing society's perception of the LGBTQ community in Singapore. COuCH is a movement which will give LGBTQ persons considering coming out the encouragement to do so, thereby changing society's perception of the LGBTQ community. It is also about the people who love and support their LGBTQ family, friends and colleagues, enabling them to ʺCome Outʺ and show that there are accepting people out there.

Business

P•INC

• P•INC[6] - a springboard for gay businesswomen. Members can make connections to advance their business, learn more skills and gain knowledge from a safe circle of people like themselves. It set up its Facebook page on 10 January 2013.

Social

Women's Nite

• Women's Nite [7]- Started by Charmaine Tan and Eileena Lee in 2002, Women's Nite provides a safe, neutral and alcohol-free space for lesbians and bisexual women in Singapore to gather and discuss the issues relevant to their lives. Talks and workshops are also held. It runs on the last Saturday of every month. Charmaine Tan, Eileena Lee, Tan Hui Yee, Amanda Lee, Gea Swee Jean and Sylvia Tan are currently the women working behind the scenes [8] for Women's Nite.

Singapore Lesbian Meetup

File:SporeLesbianMeetupLogo001.jpg

A nonprofit social lesbian and transgender/bisexual/femme/butch group started by Shu Hui Shawn on Meetup which has over 1,000 members[9]. It holds meetups either weekly or monthly. Contributions are welcome. Interested parties may feel free to email the organiser at shawnjarren@gmail.com for details. It encourages mutual respect and understanding. It welcomes participants to join the group to meet new and awesome friends.

However, a caveat is that if any members are found to be harassing other members, they will be banned from the group. It clarifies that it is not a platform for seeking singles/dating or selling/advertising products and services. Its activities are non-commercial, non-religious and non-political in nature. Participants are advised to refrain from promoting or advocating any religious or political views or beliefs during its activities. For members facing any issues, they are requested to report these to the organising team.

Lesbian Geeks SG

File:LesbianGeeksSGLogo001.jpg

A Meetup group for LGBTQ people in Singapore who are interested in making new friends, find new hobbies, enlarging social circles, gatherings, board games, dining together, etc. It was set up to provide a space with privacy for LGBTQ people to hang out. It is hoped that the gatherings will be a pleasant experience for participants. The group was taken over by Shu Hui Shawn, also the founder of Singapore Lesbian Meetup (see above) in late 2017, who looks forward to renewing and revamping it if necessary. Members are thanked for joining and encouraged to be kind to each other.

Rainbow Girls Singapore

File:RainbowGirlsSporeLogo001.jpg

An LBTQIA Meetup group which organises outings to both monthly lesbian events, such as the HerStory@Canvas and the Peaches & Cream girls' parties, and other non-clubbing social gatherings. These outings are organised sometimes earlier on on the same day itself, just a few hours prior to the actual event. It feels that it is usually more fun to go to a girls' party or any other event as a group rather than alone. The additional benefit of attending under this Meetup group is that the organiser will book a table, depending on the number of girls who RSVPed for each party, for members to use during the event. It also organises, on an ad hoc basis, non-clubbing social gatherings for deeper interaction between among members, usually on weekend evenings.

Individuals should join if they are interested in attending Singapore's monthly lesbian parties without having to worry about securing a table or someone minding their belongings while they dance the night away, or if they are simply seeking to meet and socialise with other like-minded women in non-clubbing venues. Trusted gentlemen may be admitted to membership on an exceptional basis. Note: The group is inclusive towards all sexual orientations and non-binary gender identities, and thus requires the avoidance of ambiguous or discriminatory language, e.g. use of the term "cis-women" is advised instead of "biological women". Its RGS Telegram channel is located at http://t.me/RainbowGirlsSingapore

Women's Xchange

File:WomensXchangeLogo001.jpg

Co-founded by Ryvre in 2015 on Meetup, it is an LBTQ women-centric group that focuses on connecting like-minded women and building a better LBTQ community. It can be followed Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/womensxchange/ and on Instagram: (https://www.instagram.com/womensxchange)

Lesbian Expatriate Socials Club

File:LesbianExpatsLogo001.jpg

A Meetup group for gay women in Singapore set up by Vickreman Harvey C.. It is friendly to all lesbian, bisexual and transgender women who love women. The idea is to meet up and chat during newbies nights every month, go for drinks, visit places around Singapore, embark on cinema trips and loads more, including some nights out around the scene. The group hopes to meet a bunch of friendly faces looking to have a good time and laughs with new people and friends.

Lesbian-friendly social service organisations

AWARE

AWARE (Association of Women for Action and Research)

Cyberspace

Non-profit

Discussion forums

RedQuEEn!

• RedQuEEn! [10] - initiated by former PLU3 president Eileena Lee in 1998, this e-mail list for queer womyn, provides a safe online discussion space. Having started from an initial group of 17 women, its membership currently numbers over 1000. With discussions ranging from the serious to the very humorous, the list provides online support as well as friendship and networking opportunities. RedQuEEn! initiated the monthly gatherings called Women's Nite at Pelangi Pride Centre for queer women living in Singapore (see above). Its postings have been archived in Yahoo! groups since 1998. On 17 August 2002, it held Singapore's first women's safe-sex workshop and potluck party[11].

SAMBAL

• SAMBAL [12],[13], the Singaporean And Malaysian Bisexual women And Lesbian international e-mail list, caters strictly to women only from Malaysia and Singapore. Members come together virtually to discuss Malaysian/Singaporean lesbian and bisexual women's cultural, social and political experiences/issues. SAMBAL was co-founded by Madeleine Lim, a Singapore-born lesbian based in San Francisco[14] who was the first local lesbian personality to be featured in a Fridae article.

Lesbian SG Confessions

• Lesbian SG Confessions [15] - a more focused version of the above targeted mainly at queer women. It aims to encourage fellow LGBTQ communities to be unafraid of being open and honest about their sexual orientation, to be brave enough to stake their claim to happiness, to have the freedom to love and to contribute to society.

News and information

Beat Around The Bush

• Beat Around The Bush [16],[17] - an independent and non-profit online hub for gay women in Singapore with weekly updates of lesbian-friendly and non-discriminatory events, hangouts, arts and music. Started in January 2013, just wanting everyone to have a good time.

Commercial

Herstory

• Herstory [18] - a website for grrrls which organises real-world events like the annual Butch Hunt[19],[20],[21] and Femme Quest[22] contests. It was started by Cary Tan in June 1999 and initially called Club Herstory[23]. In December 2002, it rebranded itself as simply, "Herstory" with the launch of its new website and its new monthly parties held on the first Sunday of every month at Velvet Underground, a section of the Zouk disco complex[24]. These migrated in 2005 to Gotham Penthouse, #03-01, Blk. 3A, River Valley Road, Clarke Quay. The host of the parties was singer Shirlyn Tan[25]. Other social activities include Grrrls Night Out parties, various sports and dance classes.

Historical

Real world

SLANG

• Singapore Lesbians and Naughty Girls (SLANG) - a social group for lesbians operating around 1996 to 1997. It was set up by a night spot manager who later went on to become a local entertainment icon. T-shirts and caps with the group's logo were printed for members.

Cyberspace

Non-profit

Auntie Teck

Auntie Teck (also known as AuntieTeck.com) - a website connecting lesbian and bisexual women in Asia set up in 1997 by an elusive lesbian called "Auntie Teck"[26]. It closed down in the mid-2000s.

See also

• Singapore lesbian history
• Singapore LGBT organisations

Acknowledgements

This article was written by Roy Tan.