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Dear Straight People is an LGBT media platform based in Singapore. Since its launch, Dear Straight People has gained prominence as one of Asia's leading LGBT publications. [1]
Founded by Sean Foo in July 2015, Dear Straight People first made a name of itself through its coming out stories, which included notable public figures such as Paralympic medalist Theresa Goh, influencer Edison Fan, actor Steven David Lim, actress Deborah Sim and the host of Drag Race Thailand, Pangina Heals.
Dear Straight People has collaborated with various LGBTQ+ organizations and groups over the years.
Notable collaborations include partnerships with the LGBTQ+ counseling center Oogachaga and the sex workers' rights group Project X, aimed at raising funds and awareness for their respective missions. [2]
Additionally, the platform has actively engaged in collaborations with companies to support Pride campaigns. In 2021, Dear Straight People partnered with Naumi Hotel Singapore to produce a pride campaign featuring a real life married gay couple. [3] The campaign was noted for being the 'first time a hotel in Singapore has done such a high-profile paid partnership with an LGBTQ+ couple'. [4]
In 2017, Dear Straight People produced a music video of an LGBT cover of Home (Kit Chan song), performed by bisexual singer Lew Loh, which garnered attention and sparked discussions in Singapore. [5] Later that year, Dear Straight People organised a photoshoot called #Reasons4Repeal in support of the repeal of Section 377A. The photoshoot featured over 70 individuals, including former Mediacorp actor Julian Hee.
In 2019, the platform produced the documentary series "Same Love," consisting of three episodes showcasing same-sex couples in Singapore. The series premiered on "Dear Straight People's" YouTube channel on February 11, 2019. The first episode, featuring an openly gay Malay couple with an accepting mother, gained widespread attention and sparked controversy in Malaysia. [6]
In 2022, Dear Straight People produced Getaway , which made history as Singapore's first gay Boys Love web drama series. [7] Comprising 5 episodes, Getaway featured an openly queer cast from Singapore and Thailand. [7]
Getaway was a hit, with its first episode garnering over 2 million views on YouTube to date. In addition, the series was nominated for Content of the Year at the 2023 edition of Singapore's national broadcaster Mediacorp's content creator awards, The Pinwheels. [8]
Following Getaway's popular reception, Taiwan-based LGBT streaming service GagaOOLala purchased the rights to stream the series on their platform. On 28 September 2023, Getaway premiered on GagaOOLala. [9]
The LGBT community is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality. LGBT activists and sociologists see LGBT community-building as a counterweight to heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexualism, and conformist pressures that exist in the larger society. The term pride or sometimes gay pride expresses the LGBT community's identity and collective strength; pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBT community is diverse in political affiliation. Not all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender consider themselves part of the LGBT community.
There are no statistics on how many LGBT people there are in Singapore or what percentage of the population they constitute. While homosexuality is legal in the country, the country is largely conservative.
There is a long history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activity in Singapore. Male homosexuality was outlawed under British rule, despite being acknowledged among the local population. Following Japanese occupation during World War II and the country gaining independence, homosexuality and transvestism were visible as a street scene, and from the 1970s were catered for in some nightclubs. In that decade also, Singapore became a centre of gender-reassignment surgery.
Section 377A was a Singaporean law that criminalised sex between consenting adult males. It was introduced under British colonial rule in 1938 when it was added to the Penal Code by the colonial government. It remained a part of the Singapore body of law after the Penal Code review of 2007 which removed most of the other provisions in Section 377. It was subsequently repealed in its entirety in 2023.
The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Singapore have evolved over the decades. Same-sex sexual activity is legal for both males and females; for men it was officially legalised in 2022 after being de facto decriminalised since 2007, and for women it was always legal. Prior to 2022, same-sex sexual activity between males was de jure illegal under the British colonial-era Section 377A of the Penal Code. The law had been de facto unenforced for decades. In February 2022, the Court of Appeal in the Supreme Court reaffirmed that 377A cannot be used to prosecute men for having sex with other men, and that it is "unenforceable in its entirety". Transgender rights in the country are also progressive in the region, which included Singapore being the first country in Asia to legalise sex reassignment surgery in 1973.
TREVVY was an LGBTQ website in Singapore. Started August 2006 through a re-branding exercise of Singapore's first gay portal, Trevvy ceased operation in 2021. At one point, Trevvy had over 120,000 registered users.
Julian Hee is a former Singaporean Chinese actor and model. He was prominently a full-time Mediacorp artiste from 2001 to 2014. His younger brother, Haden Hee, 许立楷 was also a former Mediacorp artiste.
Pink Dot SG, known endonymously as Pink Dot, is a pride event that has occurred annually since 2009 in support of the LGBT community in Singapore. Attendees of Pink Dot events gather to form a "pink dot" to show support for inclusiveness, diversity and the freedom to love in the country. Pink Dot events typically include concert performances and booths sponsored by organizations that support the LGBT community and cause in addition to the event's name-brand formation.
Gay media refers to media that predominantly targets a gay, lesbian or LGBTQ+ allied audience. The primary target market for gay media may also more broadly be considered to include members of an LGBTQ+ community. Secondary targets are LGBTQ+ allies, and in some instances those who oppose gay rights may be targeted as a form of activism to change their minds. There are many types of gay media, and the type is determined by the purpose of the media presented. Gay or queer media can also be defined as web sites, films, magazines and other cultural products that were created by queer individuals, or groups that are typically out, meaning that they are public or open about their identity. Gay creators do not always include gay themes or issues in their productions but there is usually at least subtle references to queerness or acceptance in these media.
Singapore does not recognise same-sex marriages or civil unions. In 2022, the Parliament of Singapore passed a constitutional amendment giving itself "the power to define, regulate, protect and promote the institution of marriage".
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer+(LGBTQ+)music is music that focuses on the experiences of gender and sexual minorities as a product of the broad gay liberation movement.
Muhamad Faisal bin Abdul Manap is a Singaporean politician. A member of the opposition Workers' Party (WP), he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Kaki Bukit division of Aljunied GRC since 2011 and has been serving as Vice-Chairman of the WP since 2016.
Addicted, also known as Heroin, is a 2016 streaming television series based on the boys' love novel Are You Addicted? (你丫上瘾了) by Chai Jidan. The series is about two sixteen-year-old boys, Bai Luo Yin and Gu Hai, who despite their social differences and personal history forge a close love relationship. Starring Xu Weizhou and Huang Jingyu in their television debut, it premiered on January 29, 2016, and aired for three episodes weekly until February 23, 2016, when it was banned by Chinese authorities. The series' groundbreaking success and its subsequent ban brought attention to the taboo topic of homosexuality in mainland China. The series has since developed a cult following.
GagaOOLala is a Taiwan-based worldwide subscription video on demand service, specializing in uncensored LGBT-related films, LGBT made-for television films and contemporary LGBT television drama series. It has partnered with Japanese-based Line TV, initially in Thailand, and then across Asia, to provide the service with GagaOOLala-made TV series. GagaOOLala is owned by Portico Media, whose also carried pay TV channels for Taiwan cable TV provider along with Chunghwa Telecom's MOD platform.
Silent Walls is a 2023 Singaporean thriller television series telecast on Mediacorp Channel 8 and produced by Ochre Pictures. It stars Tasha Low, Ayden Sng, Mindee Ong, Tay Ying, Charlie Goh, Foo Fang Rong, Shane Pow, Ferlyn Wong, Macy Chen, Alfred Sng, Desmond Shen, Desmond Ng, Jojo Goh, Andie Chen, Bernard Tan and Chen Shucheng. The series centres around a mansion and the lives of its occupants in 1938, 1963, 1988 and 2023.
Sean Foo is a Singaporean entrepreneur, filmmaker and advocate known for his contributions to the LGBT community through his work with Dear Straight People.
Getaway is a Singaporean gay web series known for being the country's first Boys Love web series. The series was launched on YouTube on 23 May 2022.
Steven David Lim, also known as Steven Lim, is a Singaporean actor, photographer, and restaurateur best known for his role as David Tay in the long-running drama series Growing Up on MediaCorp TV Channel 5.
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