Written by: Samantha Mauter | Summer 2022
Butler in Asia Summer Internship: Singapore
One of the first things I did when I found out that I was accepted in the Butler in Asia program and it would be in Singapore (not Tokyo, which I applied for) was look up the LGBTQ+ rights there. During the information session, the words “homosexuality is illegal in Singapore” were said but never further explained. My friends told me that I should “just be careful there” in fear that something might happen to me. I tried to find more information on what it’s like to live in Singapore as a member of the LGBTQ+ community, but the information was scarce. All this to say, I did not really know what to expect.
Although my experience with the queer community in Singapore was limited, I did have a few interactions that have shaped my view of what it’s like compared to France since I studied abroad there for a year.
I came out as gay in France, so before this trip, I haven’t really experienced being “out” to people from the US. In spite of someone outing me during this trip without my consent, I was received with acceptance and a sense of normalcy within the Butler group. That is to say that I wasn’t treated as the odd one out.
One of the big changes in 
Singapore was that casually talked about the men they were seeing. Although they might have been I was working there, not studying like I was in France, which was a very different dynamic. Many people believe that our personal lives, specifically who we date or marry, have no place in the workplace, and that simply isn’t true. In my experience, coworkers talk to each other about their personal lives, which includes who they’re dating or who their partner is. This happened to me when I went out to dinner with some of my coworkers in Singapore, and they accepting, I couldn’t risk ruining our dynamic in the workplace, so I stayed quiet.
In France I discovered my love of going to one bar and becoming a regular there, and this was no different in Singapore. One night, I was walking down this street filled with bars and stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a pride flag hanging inside this one bar. After talking to the owner, it turned out that he hung it up so that everyone would feel accepted there, which was so heartwarming since I hadn’t really found a place like that in Singapore yet. In the many times that I went to that bar, it felt like a cozy little place that I could sneak off to where I wasn’t afraid to be myself.
The one time when I truly feel like I experienced the queer community in Singapore was when I went to a queer party a local who I met on Tinder and became friends with told me about at the Hard Rock Cafe of all places. I was lucky enough to be invited by her and sit at her table, so I was able to get to know her friends who were all queer women. It was there that for the first time on my trip, I felt at home there. The drag shows, the dancing, the music – it was all incredible and I’ll never forget that night. I was able to really be my most authentic self while I was abroad in France and Singapore for the first time in my whole life. While I don’t think my short two-month stay in Singapore is a full reflection of the LGBTQ+ experience in the country, the little slice I did experience gave me hope for the future there.