In another post featuring Tryphena , she tells the church, “Ever since childhood, I needed to be the man. To protect my friends, be the surrogate husband to my mother, to be a better man than my father was. I tried to be better, but was not man enough for her.” She said wanting to be a man made her want to be a lesbian but that True Love has helped her find God and realize she didn’t actually want to date women.

Tryphena, only identified by her first name on one of the church’s promotional videos, said these words to True Love, a Singapore-based initiative run by 3:16 Church . On their Instagram page, she is featured as one of the many people who worked with the church to get over the “same-sex attraction” she faced since she was a teenager.

“I was so filthy, and so messed up. But He still loves me.”

He also made clear, in no uncertain terms, that experiencing same-sex attraction is not a sin but that some people have expressed a desire to overcome it. In his email, he clarified that the church and the initiative "[do not] seek to change or ‘cure’ anyone’s sexual orientation.”

“We truly care for these Christian brothers and sisters, who are so very brave to share their stories of struggle and flourishing.”

“TrueLove.Is is an initiative that firstly seeks to encourage and empower those within the Church who have same-sex attraction, so they can flourish while honouring the biblical teaching on holiness and sexuality and secondly, challenge the church to humbly lend a listening ear and learn to respond with respect and compassion to those struggling,” he said.

The Instagram account is dotted with interviews featuring Christians who are “born again.” In videos , soft piano keys play in the background as people speak about their journey to finding God, and discovering the truth behind their same-sex attractions. These clips and IGTV features often speak about being “set free.”

This, the organization claims, is the purpose of True Love : “Don’t just come out, come home.” These words are plastered across their Facebook and Instagram accounts, in rainbow colors reminiscent of the LGBTQ flag. Led by Pastor Ian Toh, 3:16 Church was founded in 2013, and the True Love ministry began as an offset in June 2018.

Alessio, another True Love member with only his first name disclosed, shared a story similar to Tryphena’s. “Was I born gay?”, he asked in a somber video. He described his fear of women, supposedly brought by witnessing them putting men down. He said that with the help of God and True Love, he realized that he was not gay. It was, the organization argues, just fear. “Alessio has found peace instead of a tortuous struggle,” said the text on the video.

“Any other expression of sexual intimacy outside of that context falls outside of God's joy-filled design for our sexuality, and as such, does not lead to people experiencing His best for their lives. Accordingly, we do not promote such relations out of a genuine care for people,” he said in his email.

One of their video segments, for example, features four Christians in a “heart-to-heart” chat with a pastor, revealing certain insensitive comments that they have heard about their sexuality for years. The video seems to be sympathetic towards the discrimination LGBTQ people have to face daily. And yet, their so-called quest to rule out “insensitive comments” is completely negated. In the same breath, the organization explicitly calls being gay a “struggle”: that these “urges” can be, and should be, overcome.

There are many, however, who don’t believe this. A closer look at their promotional materials also proves problematic.

“No one has been encouraged, prescribed nor pressured to become heterosexual, to enter or re-enter into heterosexual relationships, or to remain single or celibate,” said Toh.

This is, allegedly, the case with people like Tryphena and Alessio. They wanted nothing more than to rid themselves of being gay, says the church.

“We have, however, discovered a small but growing group of people within the church who hold the belief that a change in their sexual orientation is possible and they claim to experience varying degrees of such change,” the pastor said.

“We do not conduct any form of formal programme or therapy for Christians with same-sex attractions. All that the ministry volunteers do and advocate is to walk with a fellow Christian brother or sister with same-sex attractions, and provide acceptance, love and affirmation of their value and identity as children of God,” he said.

Some of the comments on the thread also pointed out that the organization contradicts itself. User Enterland wrote that they’ve contradicted their message “by having [a] straight couple pose [for] an LGBT cause”, in regards to the True Love banner.

Reddit user veryfascinating wrote, “I accept you, but sorry hun, you’re going to hell”–seemingly mocking True Love’s tone towards church-goers. Another user, blammer wrote, “Huh, [does this] mean we have to be celibate all our lives and not be able to love our partners?”

Since the birth of True Love, Singaporean netizens and members of the city-state’s LGBTQ community have questioned True Love’s real intentions. A year ago, a Reddit thread was filled with comments about the 3:16 Church denouncing being gay.

In the same breath, however, he added, “Be that it may, we hold to the view that every individual has the freedom to choose how they wish to live their lives.”

The writer admitted that True Love does not seem to be outwardly homophobic, but rather, any sign of homophobia is implicit. For instance, he felt that they were talking at gay people, rather than with them. Despite feeling the compassion of the pastor and speakers at the event, he did find fault in their conversations. More than anything he felt that True Love doesn’t “actually want to listen” to gay people.

“As True Love writes, ‘we are enslaved by sin – powerless and addicted, so to speak – and lose our ability to choose good.’ This seems to be a guiding principle for the campaign: straight Christians occupy a higher moral ground and gay people must up their level of morality,” said the post.

In May 2019, an anonymous Medium writer also took to the platform to recount attending a True Love event as a “gay ex-Christian.”

“Truelove.is does not practice ‘conversion therapy’ nor does it condone electroshock therapy,” the post read. “The ministry provides Christian stories, resources, and a safe community to help Christians with unwanted same-sex attraction.”

Two days after Ayane’s viral post, True Love was forced to make their own statement – challenging everything she and hundreds of others were criticising them for.

In her caption, Ayane condemned True Love’s interpretation of the Bible which she said fuels discrimination against the LGBTQ community and expressed anger towards Christians who spread messages of hatred, as opposed to love.

On July 23, Gabbi Wenyi Ayane , artist and founder of Queer Zinefest Singapore , blasted the organization in an Instagram post that got over 6,000 likes and close to 600 comments. She superimposed the words “True Love is a F***cking Disgrace” on a photo of one of the organization’s banners posted in Singapore.

Another Reddit thread in response to his piece garnered over 100 comments, most of whom slammed the church’s social media content.

“[True Love] chooses to ignore the substantial scientific evidence that establishes homosexuality as a natural, involuntary, and harmless variation in human psychology,” wrote the Medium author. “It chooses to resist the inevitable realization that life without ‘same-sex attraction’ is a viable mode of existence…”

In a second post , outlining further disapproval for the initiative, he wrote that the group is “rooted so deeply in its moral opposition to homosexuality.”

The existence of a group like True Love is revealing of larger truths about Singapore, specifically the influence of Christianity on the island. Evangelical Christians came to Singapore in the 1980s, and the movement has been flourishing since, with deep-rooted networks across the island.

Along with Singaporeans condemning True Love come examples of other churches in Singapore that have routinely attempted to rid Christians of being gay. This has been going on for years, with some attempts more subtle than others. In Singapore, gay sex is still illegal under Section 377A of the Penal Code. Any male found guilty of having sex with another male could be punished with a prison sentence of up to 2 years.

This, along with the church’s attitude towards homosexuality makes it even more difficult for those who identify as part of the LGBTQ community in Singapore.

Ashley, 33, who asked to have her name changed for her protection, claims she underwent conversion therapy at the hands of her church when she was 14 years old.

“We are supposed to be a secular state. In practice, I don’t think we are,” she told VICE.

Ashley is part of a devout evangelical family that also adheres to traditional Chinese Confucian values. Despite knowing she was a lesbian since the age of eight, she kept that part of her life a secret. At the recommendation of church elders, her parents took note of her seemingly masculine qualities, which was apparently cause for concern.

“They wanted to show me the error of my ways,” she said, speaking of the weekly counseling sessions she had to go through at her church. “Because I was marked as being a ‘tomboy,’ which was a stereotype of being a gay woman, they wanted to get rid of it in me. I just had to go along with it, so I would just switch off [during the sessions].”

When she was a teenager, and later when she left home at 22 years old after coming out as a lesbian, she dabbled in other faiths, in an attempt to find a religion that would work for her. Ashley’s family eventually accepted her and only then did she turn back to Christianity.