S03E06 100% Openly Gay

S03E06 100% Openly Gay

In this episode of Semua Kita Benni explains how an openly gay Indian Singaporean without a degree managed to build a career in a society obsessed with qualifications and a workplace lacking protections. He talks to us about his life after Action for AIDS, initially being in public relations, and then subsequently working for foreign representatives in Singapore, including the British High Commission, American Chamber of Commerce and the New Zealand High Commission. Was it just luck? Other subscription, listening and following options here ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/m/semuakita⁠ ⁠ [https://bit.ly/m/semuakita ] #queer #LGBTQ #oralhistory #Singapore

S03E05 A Good Curry

One immutable part of many Singaporean men's lives is National Service. For Benni this was a mixed experience, starting with an episode of trauma. In this episode he tells us more. After NS came the challenges of finding a job while also becoming more aware of his same sex attraction without actually acting on it or even knowing what being gay was, let alone whether it applied to him. Who could Benni ask in the early 90s? Eventually Benni got involved with Action for AIDS. He describes what it was like being a volunteer and working with patients in the early days and how he eventually became AfA's administrator in the late 1990s, helping to run many of its programmes. Other subscription, listening and following options here ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/m/semuakita⁠ ⁠ [https://bit.ly/m/semuakita ] #queer #LGBTQ #oralhistory #Singapore

S03E04 It Takes A Kampung

In the next series of episodes of Semua Kita, we speak to Benedict Thambiah as he talks through his very varied experiences of being Singaporean. We start with aconversation of being born in the late 60s, growing up in Singapore in a kampung, and then moving to an HDB estate as a child. First, however, Benni talks about the important relationships in his life: family, his partner, work and close friends are important to him and give everything context. He reflects on how this changes with time. Other subscription, listening and following options here ⁠https://bit.ly/m/semuakita⁠ [⁠https://bit.ly/m/semuakita⁠ ] #queer #LGBTQ #oralhistory #Singapore

S03E03 Grey Areas

In the previous episodes of Semua Kita, Dominic and Nigel spoke of how they took their duties as guardians of the web portal for the LGBTQ community very seriously. Here, they elaborate their experience of on-line websites being centres of community building, and observe what the effect of the mainstreaming of the LGBTQ culture in Singapore has had. Trevvy was a self-professed side hustle, albeit one which was important, how did it eventually fade away? With such a storied history, what are Nigel and Dominic's fondest memories of running Sgboy and Trevvy? From the perspective of people who have been there, what challenges does the LGBTQ community in Singapore face today? And where do Nigel and Dominic think the future lies? Other subscription, listening and following options here ⁠https://bit.ly/m/semuakita⁠ #queer #LGBTQ #oralhistory #Singapore

S03E02 Micro-activism

In this episode of Semua Kita, Nigel and Dominic reflect on the growth of Sgboy, both in terms of its on-line services as well as in the real world. We also learn about how they saw activism, and the role that Sgboy played, beyond overt programmes like Trevvy Youth and sexual health awareness, in helping to bring people together to forge a community. This sometimes involved brushes with the authorities, but the precipitant came from a surprising source. Almost since its inception, Sgboy had a component of real world meetups. Nigel and Dominic tell us more. Other subscription, listening and following options here ⁠https://bit.ly/m/semuakita⁠ #queer #LGBTQ #oralhistory #Singapore