AWARE Executive Director Corinna Lim spoke yesterday at the Institute of Policy Studies’ 35th Anniversary Conference, as part of the panel “Revisiting Pluralism”. Corinna’s remarks were made in her personal capacity, but we are reprinting the transcript of her comments below, with additional edits for clarity. We applaud Corinna for taking the brave step to come out in public ❤️🏳️‍🌈

 

Good afternoon, Minister Shanmugam, Professor Chan, everyone. I am grateful for this chance to speak on a topic that is close to my heart. I speak from the vantage point of someone who is both privileged and marginalised, and as someone who has worked in the social justice space for more than 30 years.

You can read about my privileged position in my profile. My marginalisation is my experience as a gay person in Singapore—covering up my sexuality from my family, colleagues and, until now, the public sphere.

When I was younger, there were no acceptable words to speak about this. The term LGBT only made it into the Singapore lexicon in the 2000s. Being a stigmatised minority is difficult, and even more so when this marginalisation is hidden and invisible. It is no fun in the closet. In fact, it is pretty painful and lonely. So, as a young lawyer, my main aim was to migrate to a more gay-friendly country, with lots of nature. That was 30 years ago. Thankfully, I found the women’s cause—or it found me.

And I am still here.

My work as a gender equality activist has been an important part of my identity. If I could not speak up for myself safely, I could at least do so for the women who had it a lot worse than me. The women who were victims of family violence, sexual assault, workplace discrimination and harassment.

WHY NOW?

This is the first time that I am sharing about my own personal situation in a public setting. I think it is partly to do with the repeal of Section 377A. It somehow seems it is safer to talk about this.

If we are to take the “pluralism” journey forward in Singapore, it’s important to create brave spaces for the marginalised to share their experiences. Only then can we start talking more deeply and sensitively about these topics without causing antagonism and polarisation.

And so I chose to speak about this today, even though it is still a bit scary, to ground this discussion in the lived experiences of a marginalised person, and to emphasise why it is so important for Singapore to get this right.

First, we want people in Singapore to feel like this is their home, where they can be fully appreciated and accepted for who they are. A place where they can show up fully at work or in the community and where they do not have to hide or be ashamed of any aspect of themselves. I know of too many LGBT persons who left Singapore as they did not feel that they could thrive here. I came close to being part of that statistic of people who left, but I’m glad I stayed.

THE PACE OF CHANGE IN SINGAPORE

The recent repeal of Section 377A shows that Singapore is constantly evolving. Change always feels too slow for any activist; by definition, we cannot be satisfied with the status quo. But in the past 30 years, I have seen changes in almost all areas of work that AWARE is involved in: housing for single parents; protection against workplace harassment; the recent changes to the Women’s Charter strengthening protection against non-physical violence; the White Paper on Singapore Women’s Development affirming gender equality as a top national priority; the forthcoming Workplace Fairness Act. All these changes are of critical importance to the lives of single mothers, LGBT persons and people experiencing abuse and violence, workplace harassment and discrimination.

In Singapore, change is sometimes too gradual. It took a long time for the Government to repeal Section 377A. But once it did, the Government did a fantastic job in consulting the various stakeholders and doing a “national mediation” on this issue. I know from my friends in the LGBT community that they have had many discussions with policy-makers.

Minister Shanmugam said that pluralism is essentially about social cohesion. I see pluralism as being about embracing diversity and promoting equal, active participation in society. There must be a welcoming of different views and perspectives.

As a civil society organisation that fights for gender equality, AWARE approaches advocacy in the following ways:

• Advocacy must be data-driven, backed up by research.
• We always try to assume good faith.
• We believe in engagement. It is important to consider the positions of all stakeholders closely.
• We have back-door meetings while also engaging the public to create awareness, educate and influence public opinion.
• We understand that we are playing the long game.
• Dialogue and understanding is key. So are reasonableness and dogged persistence.

The above approach is not possible for many groups that do not have access to policy-makers. It is therefore critical to create this access. Since 2011, I have seen the Government become a lot more approachable to groups with causes. And this is a very good thing.

TRUE PLURALISM

A precondition for pluralism is this: The Government must protect minorities. If we are to embrace diversity, we must ensure that minority groups are not bullied by the majority. So, things like the Workplace Fairness Act are critical.

I am very disappointed that, at this point, it looks like the Workplace Fairness Act will not protect against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity and expression. With S377A repealed, there is no reason not to extend protection against workplace discrimination to everyone, including LGBT persons. It would be ironic for our first workplace anti-discrimination legislation to be itself discriminatory by excluding LGBT persons.

Going forward, this issue can only get more complex. How we deal with pluralism has a deep impact on people’s lives.

It’s important that we get this right.