Oogachaga

🌐 While we have 1 main organisational website: http://www.oogachaga.lgbt/, there are 3 other micro-sites that we've developed over the years:

💙 Congregaytion: https://www.congregaytion.com/
Singapore's LGBTQ+ community resource portal

🖤 Our Story Is.... https://ourstoryisdrugfree.com/
A campaign to rewrite the q***r narrative in Singapore against the use of recreational and addictive drugs.

❤️ Precious SG: https://www.sgprecious.life/
An information portal for mature GBQ (gay, bis*xual, and q***r) men, MSM (men who have s*x with men), and transgender women living with HIV in Singapore.

👉🏿 Since 2024 marks the 2️⃣5️⃣th anniversary of Oogachaga, we will be posting interesting bits of information on the 25th, 5th & 15th of each month, all year!

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🇸🇬🏳️‍🌈 FREE GROUP THERAPY SESSIONS FOR GAY MEN

Studies have shown that, on average, gay men have lower self-esteem than their heteros*xual counterparts (Bridge et al., 2019), which can negatively impact quality of life, mental health and relationships.

If you are a Singapore-based gay man and struggle with self-esteem or self-acceptance, register your interest to join our upcoming group sessions.

There will be 2 groups:
👉🏾 Saturday afternoons; and
👉🏽 Sunday afternoons

From 14th September to 3rd November 2024.

Discussion topics will include: self-compassion, minority stress, and identifying negative self-beliefs.

Sessions will be led by Oogachaga trainee counsellor, Tom, who is currently completing his Master of Counselling with Monash University.

The sessions will bring together participants to learn, share and grow together. You can register your interest via the QR code or this link: https://bit.ly/OCmen2024

This Family Friday, we affirm our families of LGBTQ+ loved ones. 🫶🏻🥹

It is common for families in Singapore to face challenges in accepting their LGBTQ+ members, often experiencing confusion and worry. 😟

What guides us through these changes is LOVE. 😍

Together, we can nurture love and understanding to create a more inclusive Singapore for all. 😇

Let's embrace, support, and celebrate every unique journey together. 🌈💕

Youth counsellor Alexander Teh has been invited to speak at the 57th Singapore-Malaysia Congress of Medicine.

He will be on the panel discussing "Violence Against Women", presenting on the topic "Sexual Assault in Transgender & Gender Diverse People"

No, it's not organised by the Science Centre Singapore.

🎼 👩‍🦽 Between 2005 and 2014, four editions of A Nation In Concert (ANIC) were staged by founding producer Jerry Siah. The musical productions began with the aim to empower performers with disabilities and debunk society's misconceptions about them.

🎷🎸 Just like Oogachaga, it was an entity under the registered charity SPACES Counseling and Community Limited. It was thus able to raise funds which were in turn disbursed to other organisations working with people with disabilities, such as Association for Persons with Special Needs (APSN), Handicaps Welfare Association (HWA), the Singapore Association for the Deaf (SADeaf) and Singapore Association of the Visually Handicapped (SAVH).

🦀🐠🐙 "A Nation In Concert 2014: A Wetlands Adventure" was staged in November of that year, and was the last of its kind. ANIC is now no longer active nor in any way connected to Oogachaga.

To mark the 2️⃣5️⃣th anniversary of Oogachaga in 2024, we will be posting anecdotes from our history on the 25th, 5th & 15th of every month this year.

Happy International Non-Binary People's Day!! 💛🤍💜🖤 Observed on 14 July each year and first celebrated in 2012, this day was founded by Katje van Loon and sets out to raise awareness on the issues faced by non-binary folks around the world.

Fun fact: the word 'enby' is used as a short-form term for non-binary, and is derived from the phonetic pronunciation of the letters N and B (for non-binary, duh!)

🌈 Family Friday! 🌈

⭐️ Opinions on LGBTQ+ acceptance have been shifting in Singapore.

👉🏾 TODAY Youth Survey 2021 shows that while more people are willing to accept LGBTQ+ friends and colleagues, there is a struggle to accept family members who are LGBTQ+.

Family means unconditional love and acceptance. For the LGBTQ+ community, acceptance can mean positive outcomes: better mental health, boosting self-esteem, reducing engagement in unsafe behaviours, promoting education and advocacy, and contributing to a more inclusive society overall. 🌈💕

If you or anyone you know would benefit from our support, share this post with them & get in touch! 📩✨

"STILL HERE, STILL Q***R: Have things changed a year after the repeal of Section 377A?" by Rachel Rina Cheong Wen Xiu and Ho Yen Yuen, Heather is a photo essay produced as a Final Year Project at the Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ With permission from the authors, 400 printed copies in A5 booklet form were distributed from the Oogachaga booth at the Pink Dot Community Tent on 29 June 2024.

👉🏽You can now download the PDF version through the QR code or link: https://bit.ly/StillHereStillQueer

It contains the following sections:
❤️Finding a place to call home
💚Workplace safety as a q***r person
💙Feeling unprotected at school
💜No changes for the transgender community

Are you a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or sibling of someone who is LGBTQ+, and looking for information, networking & support?

We warmly invite you to join us for an informal buffet dinner:
⛅️ 27 July 2024, Saturday
⏰ 6pm to 8pm
📍 City location, address to be shared with confirmed participants
➡️ Register here: http://bit.ly/OCfamily27July2024

You can bring along your LGBTQ+ family member too.

🌈 Oogachaga Family Fridays on social media! 🌈

We're thrilled to announce that every Friday, we'll be posting family related content on our social media platforms!🎉💖

There will be nuggets of affirmation & information for families with LGBTQ+ loved ones 🌟💕

If you or anyone you know would benefit from our support, share this post with them & get in touch! 📩✨

"I want every parent to know that it really does get easier... It helps so much to be open about it, to speak honestly, just as they were honest and trusting enough to tell you about themselves in the first place."

Dr Khoo Hoon Eng
Proud mum of 2 q***r children
Co-founder of SAFE - Supporting, AFfirming and Empowering our LGBTQ friends and family

Oogachaga, as a non-profit business, was previously wholly owned (as a "sole proprietorship") by a registered charity called SPACES Counseling and Community Limited.

SPACES is an acronym coined by co-founders Clarence Singam and his partner Jason Wee, and stands for “Singaporeans Providing Alternative Counseling Environments.” It was registered as a company limited by guarantee and charity in 2004.

Over the years, the service which included professional counselling and support groups became what we know today as Oogachaga. A separate entity evolved out of the community volunteering and fundraising arm.

Since November 2023, SPACES Counseling and Community Limited has been renamed Oogachaga Community Services Limited.

To mark our 25th anniversary in 2024, we will be posting snippets of information about the history of Oogachaga.

Thank you all so much for coming by last month to P.S. Cafe Ann Siang Hill for the modest fundraiser to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Oogachaga !!!

Dear PM Lawrence Wong,

While we are grateful to the Government for championing the repeal of section 377A, we are also disappointed that little else has changed for LGBTQ+ Singaporeans since then.

We are not asking for special treatment or extra rights.

We are asking for equality. We want:

• Equal access to LGBTQ-affirming education, healthcare and social services

• Equal access for LGBTQ students to a safe environment in schools, where there are policies and training on tackling anti-LGBTQ bullying and harassment

• Equal protection of LGBTQ job-seekers and employees from employment discrimination

• Equal recognition of LGBTQ couples and families, including access to public housing, citizenship and education for children

We, as Singaporeans from all walks of life, look to you as our servant leader, to ensure that we all have a reason to stay in Singapore, our home, in a country where we are not just acknowledged but also valued.

Leow Yangfa
Executive Director
Oogachaga
🇸🇬🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️

HAPPY PINK DOT DAY 💖😍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Oogachaga will be LOUDLY and PROUDLY present at Hong Lim Park today! Come by and snag our freebies, including our limited edition stickers and custom-made fans! Seeya l8r alligators!!!! 😁😁😁

🇸🇬 For the past 15 years, since the first Pink Dot was formed in 2009, Oogachaga staff members & volunteers who are Singapore citizens & permanent residents have attended & participated in the annual event.

🌞 We have always had a visible, physical presence at the Pink Dot Community Tent, running a booth every year to publicise our work affirming & supporting Singapore's LGBTQ+ community.

😷 Even during the 2 years of the pandemic (2020 & 2021) when the event went online as a livestream, Oogachaga staff were invited to participate in video recordings.

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ We look forward to seeing you there again this year, on 29 June, Saturday afternoon, at Hong Lim Park!

Executive director Leow Yangfa spoke with HRM Asia about LGBTQ allyship in the workplace, & they have summarised all the key points into a poster-sized infographic, now available in the Q2/ 2024 issue of the HRM Magazine Asia: https://hrmasia.com/q2-2024-emagazine-issue/

Executive director of LGBTQ non-profit Oogachaga Leow Yangfa said: “Marriage for anyone is not an easy decision to make, and I don’t know if many people whether here in Singapore or elsewhere would make a major life decision so immediately based on a change in the law in another country.”
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Oogachaga’s Leow noted that some LGBTQ couples have only registered their marriage in countries such as Australia and New Zealand in recent years, despite the legalisation of such unions there earlier. He said: “It didn’t happen overnight.”

‘Faraway goal’: Singapore LGBTQ community hails Thailand’s same-s*x marriage law The community says there may not be a rush among Singapore’s LGBTQ couples to register their marriage in Thailand.

Leow Yangfa, executive director of Singaporean LGBTQ group Oogachaga, said the legalization of same-s*x marriage in Thailand and Taiwan shows the momentum behind the movement is universal, and not a product of "Western values."

"This is all happening in Asia, at our doorstep," Leow said. "It's not about values and ideology, it's about doing what's right for the people."

[A well-researched long read from Nikkei Asia about the state of LGBTQ+ equality across Asia]

Thailand's marriage equality a rare win in Asia's fight for LGBTQ rights From Singapore to Indonesia, new Thai bill gives hope to persecuted s*xual minorities

✨💚Wishing all who are celebrating, Selamat Hari Raya Haji!💚✨ May this day bring joy and blessings to you and your loved ones!

🩷🤎 Over the years, Oogachaga has adopted different logos, each by a different designer, each with a different meaning.

The current design, featuring simply the word OOGACHAGA, is a registered trademark. This was incorporated into the 20th anniversary logo in 2019, and most recently in our 25th anniversary logo this year.

👉🏿 To mark the 2️⃣5️⃣th anniversary of Oogachaga in 2024, we will be posting interesting bits of information on the 25th, 5th & 15th of each month, all year!

🇸🇬 From 1- 16 June 2024, IKEA Singapore will be retailing the 13L STORSTOMMA bag at $1 (U.P.$2) and the 71L STORSTOMMA bag at $2 (U.P.$3.50) in-stores and online.

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ At the end of this campaign, IKEA will donate S$5000 to Oogachaga, a non-profit organisation that offers counselling and support services to the LGBTQ+ community in Singapore.

Celebrating diversity and inclusivity At IKEA, we believe in celebrating diversity and inclusivity to help everyone feel right at home. Shop our STORSTOMMA bag and more at IKEA.sg today.

Welcome to Oogachaga, Alexis Joseph!

Alexis joined the professional staff team on 1 June 2024 as our new Family Support Worker, providing support for parents & family members with LGBTQ+ loved ones.

🧑‍💼 Prior to this, she was a mental health professional in community services, and is now delighted to do meaningful work for the LGBTQ+ community.

🧶 In her free time, she prefers staying indoors and listening to oldies, reading, netflixing (B-99), doing water-colour art or crochet. But she occasionally seeks sunlight through travel, walking, hiking, badminton and cycling.

Alexis has a Bachelors of Psychological Science with Honours, and a Diploma in Psychology and Community Services.

Happy Pride Month! 🖤🤎❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🩷🩵🤍

🇸🇬 Did you know that since 2010, the Oogachaga office & counselling centre has been located in Chinatown.

📍 2010 - 2014: 41A Mosque Street

📍 2014 - present: 57B Pagoda Street

👉🏽 To mark the 2️⃣5️⃣th anniversary of Oogachaga this year, we will be posting interesting bits of information about us on the 25th, 5th & 15th of each month in 2024.

🌈 Embrace every shade of the rainbow!

👉🏾 Show your support by donating minimum S$10 to Oogachaga through the Revolut app and get an exclusive Diversity Card for free!

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ This Pride month, let's paint the town with diversity, inclusion, love and acceptance!

Download the app here: https://revolut.onelink.me/E528/0g8dnwo6

🖤🤎❤️🧡💛💚💙💜🩷🩵🤍

🇹🇭🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️Happy Bangkok Pride!!!

It's 1 June, which means we have the pleasure of wishing everyone a very HAPPY PRIDE MONTH! ✨🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ With solemn roots in the Stonewall Riots, a series of gay liberation riots in 1969, Pride Month is now observed in the whole month of June to celebrate LGBTQ+ people around the world, their achievements, and the progress made by the LGBTQ+ community and their allies 🖤🤎🩵🩷🤍❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

🇭🇰🇸🇬 The latest study examining care gaps and identifying opportunities for improving care for persons living with HIV (PLHIV) in Singapore and Hong Kong has just been published by the Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS).

Oogachaga is honoured to have executive director, Leow Yangfa, be part of this journey with other community partners in highlighting the critical importance of empowering patients and enhancing communication in HIV care.

The full paper is available here https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jia2.26250

In brief, the study found that:

👉🏾 PLHIV have limited awareness of chronic diseases, notably cardiovascular and renal diseases

👉🏽 Deprioritization of psycho-social health as part of consultations in healthcare settings limits quality of healthcare delivery

👉🏿 While PLHIV are concerned about their physical health, they generally have limited awareness of chronic diseases

💝 As advocates for a society free of HIV, we strive to leverage these findings to drive positive change, ensuring HIV is no longer a barrier to physical and mental well-being.

💓 Our heartfelt thanks to all our amazing partners and participants for your invaluable contributions.

🎼 Did you know that Oogachaga was named after the chorus from the song "Hooked On A Feeling", by a 1970s band called Blue Swede? 🇸🇪

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ Our founders felt that the opening line from the song - "I can't stop this feeling, deep inside of me" - was something they, and others in the LGBTQ+ community, could resonate with.

Oogachaga is celebrating our 25th anniversary in 2024, and to mark the occasion, we will be posting something about us on the 25th & 5th of each month.