Part of an ongoing series called SocietyA Community, and in the spirit of Pride Month, founder of The T Project June Chua shares her journey as a transgender woman, and how The T Project is creating a safer haven for transgender members.
In so many ways, Singapore is a modernized society whose progress into a thriving city-state has been so often and so well documented. Yet despite our constant push for modernization and progress, attitudes towards the LGBTQIA+ community still remains largely conservative.
A 2019 study from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy reflected that of the polled respondents, 73.1 percent stated that same-sex marriage is viewed in some measure of being wrong. And for the transgender community in Singapore, there are little avenues of support or services that are catered to them, let alone channels of education for the mainstream public at large.
In March this year, an article in TODAY cited one transgender individual continually addressed with the wrong gender pronouns despite making his pronoun preferences known to the medical staff. Now contrast that with a 2021 study from American nonprofit organization The Trevor Project, which found that transgender and nonbinary youth who have their pronouns respected are 50 percent less likely to attempt suicide.
June Chua wears China Collar Mini Jacket in Pink and Tuck Volume Skirt, both from MINJUKIM; Lotus Door Bracelet, from P by Panache. The T Project t-shirt, and sneakers, her own.
June Chua is well aware of this experience.
“While we are fortunate in Singapore to not see as much violent hate crimes as in other countries, the transgender community here still faces plenty of micro-aggressions”, she tells us. June cites one example where she would go shopping, and despite being a transgender woman, sales staff would still mockingly address her as ‘sir’. “It’s quite malicious”, she says.
Since 2014, June was the co-founder of The T Project – Singapore’s only shelter and support center that is dedicated to helping other transgender community members. June recalls that prior to starting The T Project, Singapore “didn’t have trans-led or trans-specific social services for the community”. In the span of four years after, she opened the Alicia Community Centre – named after her late sister – which now operates as a kind of meeting place for transgender individuals who are looking for support.
“We offer a counseling service that is the first of its kind, because our counsellors are professionally trained, and they also belong to the transgender community”, she relates with pride. “I want to ensure that when you come to our community centre, you are getting advice from people who understands that it means to be transgender.”
Beyond that, June also offers rehabilitation services for transgender ex-offenders who are rejoining society, as well as transgender students who are looking to study in a safe and supported environment.
Rosy as it sounds, things weren’t always this smooth sailing when June was first aware that she was transgender.
“In those days, if you came out to your family as transgender and were evicted from your home, you had to worry about shelter, food and other very basic necessities. Yes, we can work as fast-food cashiers, but the little money earned was not enough for sustenance”, June shares. “A lot of the community eventually had to become what I term as ‘survival sex workers’, because it was the only industry that offered gender affirmation and a realistic means of survival.”
Even in 2021, transgender individuals still face discrimination in employment. June recounts how her friend who has completed her gender confirmation surgery decided to disclose to the interviewer at a security services company that she was transgender. That decision led the company to offer her $600 lesser than the advertised salary, and the reason for the lower salary was because she was transgender.
Touching on the LGBTQIA+ community, June acknowledges that while the community is welcoming and accepting of their transgender brothers and sisters, the needs and wants of transgender individuals is still largely different from the rest of the community.
“With our other brothers and sisters in the LGBTQIA+ community, it’s easier to hide your sexuality”, she explains. “You can choose to come out to your mother but not your father, or at work but not at home. However, with transgender people, once we come out, we undergo a big change in our physical appearance – and that’s why we need our own safe space simply to exist.”
Realizing that there was a lack of such a space in Singapore for her fellow transgender community members has now led June to co-find The T Project. On top of counselling services, The T Project also operates the Alicia Community Centre and runs a study program for transgender students.
“I’m not about signing petitions or ranting on Facebook”, June states. “I’m about finding solutions. We at The T Project are about building bridges for our community. We partner up transgender befrienders with other transgender students to start a study program for any transgender person who has had to leave school prematurely. I want them to be able to take their GCE ‘N’, ‘O’ or ‘A’ Levels in a safe environment.”
During last year’s circuit breaker, The T Project received a fairly large amount of food donations, which they then opened it up to any transgender person who needed these rations.
“I don’t care if you live in a rental flat or in a landed property, as long as you are transgender, you’re welcome to come and get food rations”, she says. In the span of the circuit breaker last year, The T Project gave rations to about 70 transgender individuals.
Unlike other organizations that have monthly or quarterly KPIs, June’s personal KPI is kept relatively straightforward.
“It’s not about how many food rations I hand out or how many people I have staying in my shelter”, she notes with an acerbic sense of humor. “My KPI is that as long as I can help one person feel comfortable to live their most authentic self, then my job is done. Because to that one person, The T Project is their world.”
At the end of the day, in June’s view, it boils down to empathy.
June also shared that just last month, they created the Moonflower Befriender program, which seeks to address the elderly transgender community in Singapore by pairing them up with other transgender befrienders who can offer these individuals – oft neglected by the rest of mainstream society – with a level of social interaction and support. “I cannot stay stagnant”, June quips.
“We’re living in 2021”, she states. “Yet there is a real lack of information and educational resources for the public at large. I hope that society as a whole will work towards unlearning their biases against transgender people and realign themselves to try and understand the community better.”
Ever the forward-thinking advocate, we asked June what her hopes for the future of The T Project are.
“I want my shelter to be redundant”, she replies confidently. “Because that would mean that there will not be any homeless transgender individuals any longer. I am working towards making my shelter redundant. If in 20 years, there are still homeless transgender individuals who need a shelter, then I have not done a good enough job.”
To learn more about The T Project and how you can support them, please click here.
ABOUT THIS FEATURE
SocietyA Community is an ongoing feature that seeks to uplift and amplify female voices who are making a difference, whether it is in their chosen industry or within the community. If you would like to nominate someone for a future SocietyA Community feature, please let us know by writing in to care@society-a.com.
Photography: Zetty Ardila/SocietyA; Makeup: Special thanks to Hera Singapore.