Even though the

Standards of Care

released by WPATH (the World Professional Association for Transgender Health) indicate that the most successful means of treating gender dysphoria is to allow the person to transition, the Singaporean healthcare system remains several decades behind peer-reviewed and generally accepted science.

Trans people who have not chosen to undergo bottom surgery also exist in a legal grey area, as the Singaporean government does not allow for self-identification of gender, and one must have undergone surgery before gender markers on identification documents can be changed.

This presents a problem because many trans people do not choose to undergo bottom surgery, for reasons ranging from the financial, to concerns about the current state of medical science. When one’s legal documents do not match the gender of the person carrying them, the dysphoria one experiences is severe, which is why so many trans people overseas are battling for the right to express their lived gender on their identification.

Even something as simple as allowing one’s name to be changed can go a long way towards relieving gender dysphoria.

Isabelle’s IC reflects the name of her choice, and she is able to live as herself while she attends university. Thus far, the worse brush she has had with the system was being denied an internship opportunity with a government agency because she outed herself in her documentation. However, it’s in her love life that she’s encountered the most resistance.

Choosing to out herself to potential partners, she often receives answers like, “Oh sorry I not gay I not gay”, or that they “ didn’t come here to date trannies”. This resistance and ignorance is traceable back to the fact that there is little to no education on anything out of heterosexual couplings, with groups like Focus on the Family actively campaigning against expanding sex education in Singapore. This then results in more bigotry and ignorance, which robs trans people of developing a support network.

Support systems, like one’s friends, family, or partner are especially important for trans individuals. Studies into the question of caring for trans individuals show that trans people who face rejection by loved ones have higher rates of illnesses such as depression, and higher rates of suicide attempts.

I couldn’t find any studies that have been conducted into the rates of parental rejection of trans individuals in Singapore, but anecdotal evidence suggests that parental rejection of trans children is particularly high.

My parents are highly religious Christians, and supporters of Trump, so being told that I’m a freak of nature is par for the course at home. Yuna, on the other hand, has not chosen to come out to her family, or to transition, for fear that she will be disowned (or worse). She lives in constant fear of being discovered by her family, which is not the kind of home atmosphere conducive to a healthy mental state.

Multiple surveys indicate that Yuna is not alone in this, as trans people in Singapore experience higher rates of depression and suicidal ideation, and this can be tied back to the societal opposition that the community in Singapore faces as a whole. The Nanyang Technological University, for instance has specifically stated that they are “unable” to support students who have gender dysphoria, whatever that means.