Transgender people in Singapore

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The history and subculture surrounding transgender people in Singapore is substantial. [1] As with LGBT rights in the country in general, transgender rights in Singapore have also evolved significantly over time, including various laws and public attitudes in regards to identity documents, as well as anti-discrimination measures used by or pertaining to transgender people, in the areas of employment, education, housing and social services, amongst others. [1]

Contents

Gender-affirming surgery is legal in the country since 1973, the first country in Asia to legalise it. However, a citizen of Singapore is only able to change their legal sex after undergoing gender-affirming surgery, being physically examined by a relevant practitioner (such as an endocrinologist or plastic surgeon), and being found that genitalia has been completely changed. A change in gender marker applies to most government documents, including the NRIC and passport, only excluding the birth certificate (if the citizen was born in Singapore). In 1996, marriage was also legalised for transgender people. [2]

Summary

Right to change legal nameRight to change legal genderRight to access medical treatmentRight to marryMilitary service
Yes check.svg Deed poll and statutory declaration available Yes check.svg Since 1973 Yes check.svg Always legal Yes check.svg Since 1996, after an amendment was made to the Women's Charter Yes check.svg Since the 1990s [lower-alpha 1]

History

National service

Transgender individuals who have undergone sex reassignment surgery (SRS) do not need to serve National Service. However due to the difficulty of transitioning early, only a very small percentage of transgender people in Singapore undergo SRS before having to enter National Service. It is possible for transgender people to be exempted from National Service despite not undergoing sex reassignment surgery. However, this is mostly up to the medical-officer in charge and varies case by case. In general, transgender women that look like cisgender women have a much higher chance of being exempted. [3]

Sex reassignment surgery

Sexual reassignment surgery in Singapore are only conducted by approved gynecologists, such as Shan Ratnam. Surgery on genitalia had been done prior to 1971 but only for patients who had both male and female reproductive organs. [4]

The first sexual reassignment surgery, a male to female sex reassignment surgery, was done in July 1971 at Kandang Kerbau Hospital. The person was a 24-year-old Chinese Singaporean and had extensively cross dressed by her grandmother when young and then frequent the transgender scene in her teen years. She underwent psychological analysis by psychiatrists to be suitable for the surgery and legal approval was obtained from the Ministry of Health. [2] [5]

In 1974, Ratnam also headed a team of surgeon to perform the first female to male sex reassignment surgery in Singapore [6] and probably the first in Southeast Asia, [7] was also offered at Kandang Kerbau Hospital and at Alexandra Hospital. A Gender Identity Clinic (GIC) and Gender Reassignment Surgery Clinic were set up at the National University Hospital two decades later. It was headed by Ratnam. For 30 years, Singapore was one of the world leaders in SRS, performing more than 500 such operations.[ when? ]

Transitioning as a minor

Permission from guardians is required for those under 21 to undergo transition, but hormone replacement therapy is not available for those under 18. It should be of note that minors transitioning face challenges in the school system, with a lack of accommodations for issues such as bathroom choice and school uniforms. [8]

In 1973, Singapore legalised SRS. A policy was instituted to enable post-operative transgender people to change the legal gender on their National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) but not their birth certificates [9] and other documents which flowed from that. 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.

Transgender marriage

Before 1996, Singapore legally did not allow transgender marriage but it was implicitly allowed before 1991. [10] Before 1991, the Registry of Marriages (ROM) only verify the gender of couples based on their legal gender recorded on the NRIC which can be changed after a successful SRS. [9]

In 1991, a woman successfully received an annulment of her marriage with her husband after failing to have sex on their wedding night. She then found out he was formerly a woman and filed for divorce. Since then, ROM required couples to produce their birth certificates (which the gender of the person cannot be changed) during declaration of their intent of marriage. In the aftermath of the divorce, a High Court ruled in the same year that transgender people cannot be married in Singapore. [11]

In 1996, a bill was presented before the Parliament of Singapore to amend the Women's Charter.

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. In a lawsuit in the courts of Singapore, a landmark case in which a woman sought and won the annulment of her marriage to a trans man (Lim Ying v Hiok Kian Ming Eric), it was necessary to amend the Women's Charter to ensure that the original intent was not undermined.

On 24 January 1996, Minister for Community Development Abdullah Tarmugi announced that post-operative transgender people are allowed to marry opposite-sex spouses. [2]

See also

Notes

Related Research Articles

The legal status of transgender people varies greatly around the world. Some countries have enacted laws protecting the rights of transgender individuals, but others have criminalized their gender identity or expression. In many cases, transgender individuals face discrimination in employment, housing, healthcare, and other areas of life.

Gender-affirming surgery is a surgical procedure, or series of procedures, that alters a person's physical appearance and sexual characteristics to resemble those associated with their identified gender. The phrase is most often associated with transgender health care and intersex medical interventions, however many such treatments are also pursued by cisgender and non-intersex individuals. It is also known as sex reassignment surgery, gender confirmation surgery, and several other names.

Gender transition is the process of changing one's gender presentation or sex characteristics to accord with one's internal sense of gender identity – the idea of what it means to be a man or a woman, or to be non-binary or genderqueer. For transgender and transsexual people, this process commonly involves reassignment therapy, with their gender identity being opposite that of their birth-assigned sex and gender. Transitioning might involve medical treatment, but it does not always involve it. Cross-dressers, drag queens, and drag kings tend not to transition, since their variant gender presentations are (usually) only adopted temporarily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Singapore</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transgender rights in Iran</span>

Transgender rights in Iran are limited, with a narrow degree of official recognition of transgender identities by the government, but with trans individuals facing very high levels of discrimination, from the law, the state, and from the wider society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Iceland</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights in Iceland rank among the highest in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Sweden</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT+) rights in Sweden are regarded as some of the most progressive in Europe and the world. Same-sex sexual activity was legalized in 1944 and the age of consent was equalized to that of heterosexual activity in 1972. Sweden also became the first country in the world to allow transgender people to change their legal gender post-sex reassignment surgery in 1972, whilst transvestism was declassified as an illness. Legislation allowing legal gender changes without hormone replacement therapy and sex reassignment surgery was passed in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Denmark</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights in Denmark rank among the most developed in the world. In 2023, Denmark was ranked as the third most LGBT-supportive country in Europe. Polls consistently show that same-sex marriage support is nearly universal amongst the Danish population.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Panama</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Panama face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in Panama, but same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal benefits and protections available to opposite-sex married couples.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in India</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in India are afforded greater protections than those in many other Asian countries. However, Indian LGBT citizens may still face social and legal difficulties not experienced by non-LGBT people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Asia</span>

Laws governing lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights are complex in Asia, and acceptance of LGBT persons varies widely. Same-sex sexual activity is outlawed in at least twenty Asian countries. In Afghanistan, Brunei, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen homosexual activity is punishable by death. In addition, LGBT people also face extrajudicial executions from non-state actors such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. While egalitarian relationships have become more frequent in recent years, they remain rare.

The matrimonial law of Singapore categorises marriages contracted in Singapore into two categories: civil marriages and Muslim marriages. The Registry of Marriage (ROM) administers civil marriages in accordance to the Women's Charter, while the Registry of Muslim Marriages (ROMM) administers Muslim marriages in accordance to the Administration of Muslim Law Act (AMLA). All marriages performed in Singapore must be registered with the relevant registry in order to be legally valid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Transsexual</span> People experiencing a gender identity inconsistent with their assigned sex

Transsexual people experience a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desire to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance to help them align their body with their identified sex or gender.

Transgender rights in Brazil include the right to change one's legal name and sex without the need of surgery or professional evaluation, and the right to sex reassignment surgery provided by Brazil's public health service, the Sistema Único de Saúde.

Transgender disenfranchisement is the prevention by bureaucratic, institutional and social barriers, of transgender individuals from voting or participating in other aspects of civic life. Transgender people may be disenfranchised if the sex indicated on their identification documents does not match their gender presentation, and they may be unable to update necessary identity documents because some governments require individuals to undergo sex reassignment surgery first, which many cannot afford, are not medical candidates for, or do not want.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in the Northern Territory</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in Australia's Northern Territory enjoy the same legal rights as non-LGBT residents. The liberalisation of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Australia's Northern Territory has been a gradual process. Homosexual activity was legalised in 1983, with an equal age of consent since 2003. Same-sex couples are recognised as de facto relationships. There was no local civil union or domestic partnership registration scheme before the introduction of nationwide same-sex marriage in December 2017, following the passage of the Marriage Amendment Act 2017 by the Australian Parliament. The 2017 Australian Marriage Law Postal Survey, designed to gauge public support for same-sex marriage in Australia, returned a 60.6% "Yes" response in the territory. LGBT people are protected from discrimination by both territory and federal law, though the territory's hate crime law does not cover sexual orientation or gender identity. The territory was the last jurisdiction in Australia to legally allow same-sex couples to adopt children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LGBT rights in Kerala</span>

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Kerala face legal and social difficulties not experienced by non-LGBT persons. However, Kerala has been at the forefront of LGBT issues in India after Tamil Nadu. It became one of the first states in India to establish a welfare policy for the transgender community and in 2016, proposed implementing free gender affirmation surgery through government hospitals. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal since 2018, following the Supreme Court ruling in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India. In addition, numerous LGBT-related events have been held across Kerala, including in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram. However, there is also increasing opposition to LGBT rights recently as evidenced by the anti-LGBT campaigns spearheaded by meninist groups and Muslim organisations like Indian Union Muslim League, Samastha and Jamaat-e-Islami.

Joanne Leung Wing-yan is the first openly transgender politician in Hong Kong.

Transgender rights in Australia have legal protection under federal and state/territory laws, but the requirements for gender recognition vary depending on the jurisdiction. For example, birth certificates, recognised details certificates, and driver licences are regulated by the states and territories, while Medicare and passports are matters for the Commonwealth.

The legal status of gender-affirming surgery and gender-affirming hormone therapy varies by jurisdiction, often interacting with other facets of the legal status of transgender people. Key considerations include whether people are allowed to get such surgeries, at what ages they are allowed to if so, and whether surgeries are required in order for a gender transition to be legally recognized. As of 2007, the countries that perform the greatest number of gender-affirming surgeries are Thailand and Iran.

References

  1. 1 2 Kaan, Terry Sheung-Hung (22 December 2015). "Singapore". The Legal Status of Transsexual and Transgender Persons: 391–424. doi:10.1017/9781780685588.019. ISBN   9781780685588 . Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  2. 1 2 3 Chan Meng Choo (2011). "First sex reassignment surgery". Singapore Infopedia. National Library Board. Archived from the original on 1 June 2019. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
  3. ↑ "Reply to Media Queries on Transgender Individual Serving NS". www.mindef.gov.sg. Ministry of Defence. 1 May 2016. Retrieved 17 September 2022. All male Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents above the age of 18 years are required to serve National Service (NS) if they are medically fit. Those who are legally declared female will not be required to serve NS.
  4. ↑ Yeo, Joseph (31 July 1971). "First sex change surgery in S'pore". The Straits Times . p. 17.
  5. ↑ Tan, Wee Lian (11 November 1971). "They're still 'misters' despite sex change". The Straits Times . p. 8 – via NewspaperSG.
  6. ↑ Kwee, Masie (20 October 1974). "S'pores first sex change woman". The Straits Times . p. 1. Retrieved 3 September 2023– via NewspaperSG.
  7. ↑ Kwee, Masie (25 February 1975). "4 WOMEN AWAIT SEX CHANGE OPERATION". The Straits Times . p. 4. Retrieved 3 September 2023– via NewspaperSG.
  8. ↑ "Trans Healthcare in Singapore".
  9. 1 2 "Sex-change cases can get new ICs". The Straits Times . 3 November 1986. p. 13. Retrieved 3 September 2023– via NewspaperSG.
  10. ↑ Goh, Teng Teng (26 January 1996). "They were allowed to wed before". The New Paper . p. 9.
  11. ↑ "'I do' — and no need to state gender at birth". The Straits Times . 30 August 1996. p. 6. Retrieved 3 September 2023– via NewspaperSG.

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