Guest written by Daryl Yang
Daryl
Yang co-founded and currently serves as Executive Director
of the Inter-University LGBT Network. Previously, Daryl was
President of The G Spot, the Yale-NUS Gender & Sexuality
Alliance, from 2014 to 2016. He is currently a third-year student
pursuing a double degree in Law and Liberal Arts at Yale-NUS
College and the NUS Faculty of Law.
In May 2012, prominent queer activist, poet
and writer Ng
Yi-Sheng published an article titled “How
LGBT-friendly are Singapore universities?”, where he outlined
the ambivalent and sometimes hostile attitude of universities
towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+)
students and faculty.
Much has changed since then. In the five years
since, we have set up the Inter-University LGBT
Network (InterUni) consisting of groups from NUS, NTU,
SMU and Yale-NUS College; and it may be timely to review these
developments on university campuses since then.
While there have not been much gains in the
broader LGBT movement with the failure of the constitutional
challenge against 377A and the tightening of
funding for Pink Dot, young people have been increasingly
active in campaigning for LGBT issues.
However, while there are some campuses with
vibrant LGBT communities, other universities have been less
welcoming of LGBT groups and students. Ultimately, yielding to
fears of public backlash or ideological conflict is a lost
opportunity for these universities and their students.
Daryl Yang speaking at TEDxPickeringStreet,
Aug 2016
At the point of Yi-Sheng’s article, there was
only one student group focusing on gender and sexuality under the
University Scholars Programme at NUS: Gender Collective.
Since then, students from the other public
universities have set up The G Spot at Yale-NUS College,
Kaleidoscope at NTU, Out To Care at SMU and tFreedom at Tembusu
College. These groups came together to set up the Inter-University
LGBT Network in 2015, and are working together on organising
cross-campus social and support programmes today.
I served as coordinator of The G Spot from
2014 to 2016, where I also helped to establish a coalition of
groups situated at University Town in NUS. We organised a
month-long campaign on sexuality and gender (patriotically
named SG
Month) last October as well as the most successful Qrientation,
a LGBT-focused orientation programme, thus far with over 100
participants.
While other NUS
orientation camps struggled with the backlash against sexualised
activities, our groups worked closely with the administration
to share our experience in fostering a safe and inclusive
orientation programme and made various recommendations that
have since been implemented.
In SMU, Out To Care has similarly worked
closely with the Office of Global Learning in fostering a more
inclusive campus for LGBT students. Beyond that, a group of SMU
students have also published a new report on
strategies to foster inclusive workplaces as well.
Participants and facilitators at [email protected] 2016.
Despite the various challenges the group faces, it continues to
organise events to provide a safe and inclusive platform for LGBTQ+
students from NTU.
But things have not been entirely positive either. In
2014, an NUS Malay Studies professor published a Facebook post
calling lesbians a “cancer to society”. Though he was
subsequently counselled and
an email from the NUS Provost was sent to the entire university
community reaffirming the university’s commitment to fostering an
inclusive community, it highlights the real presence of hostile
attitudes and attacks on the LGBT community.
Similarly, Kaleidoscope at NTU has faced some challenge
working with the administration to the extent that it currently
operates as an independent group after first registering as
an official student organisation.
I have also had experience working with some students
who tried setting up a similar group at another newly established
technology university, whose attempt was promptly quashed by their
administration.
What I find most intriguing is the disconnect with
diversity and inclusion. With the world’s largest technology
companies such as Google and
Apple being firm sponsors of Pink Dot, these technology
universities’ clamping down on LGBT presence in their campuses
points at a disconnect. While the companies recognise the
importance of affirming their LGBT employees to attract talent,
these universities actively obstruct any student effort to foster a
more inclusive environment.
It may come as no surprise then that NUS has
been ranked the
4th most international university. While the best universities
here and abroad are actively supporting their LGBT students to
achieve their highest potential, some of the universities here have
chosen instead to give in to fears of public backlash or
ideological disagreements on campus.
Yet, is it not the purpose of a university to
facilitate reasoned and intellectual dialogue on controversial
matters?
While there remain challenges to foster more inclusive
campuses across Singapore, the Inter-University LGBT Network is
committed to supporting and empowering students from across all
universities in Singapore.
If Singapore is to be an intellectual hub where our
university graduates are not only equipped with technical skills
and expertise but prepared for a complex and diverse world, it is
not too late for the rest of the universities to catch
up. Yet, it is ultimately up to students ourselves to advocate
for LGBT inclusion in their classrooms and colleges.
The existing groups and progress made did not come easy
and a more LGBT-inclusive future is up to the young people of today
and tomorrow. After all, as Yi-Sheng said, universities are places
where change begins. Change has begun, but will it persist?
==
The Inter-University LGBT Network is looking for
passionate and committed university students to volunteer with us
as Subcommittee Members to plan and execute upcoming projects and
events. Find out more here: http://bit.ly/interusc17info
==
This article has been edited for clarity.
This article How
LGBT-Inclusive Are Singapore Universities? appeared first
on Popspoken.