09.16.07
Posted in General, Support Groups, Youth at 10:18 pm by lublub
Hey Boys and Girls,
Young OUT Here, more affectionately known as yOUTh, is back!
All Fueled Up and Raring to Go, this second run is definitely more exciting, with a larger range of topics and social events you can look forward to!
What is yOUTh about?
Not affiliated with any organisations, yOUTh stands on its own as a gay identity building, affirming and support group, especially for youths, set up by youths!
yOUTh aims to reach out to LGBT teens who want to come together, to not only to learn from each other but also to share their experiences that they go through, building their own social and support network at the same time, in a safe and inclusive environment!
The theme for the second run is EMPOWERMENT. It will focus on skills for you to build on your individuality by discussing relevant topics. We’ve also included a bigger range of themes and a deeper emphasis on your relations with school, family, friends, relationships, the LGBT community and of course, yourselves.
What YOU can look forward to:
• Creative and informal discussions about topics that concern YOU!
• Safe and Inclusive environment
• Listening ears aplenty
• Guest Speakers to shed light on more serious topics and answer your questions!
• Snacks and drinks provided every session
• A great place to meet and make like-minded friends.
• A total of 12 sessions are planned with social outings peppered in between sessions for YOU to mingle and enjoy the company of your new friends!
A Taste of the Topics that will be covered:
• One Foot In, Both Feet OUT - Coming OUT and YOU
• Where We Belong - Our Community and YOU
• Class in Session - School and YOU
• Dearly Beloved - Family and YOU
• Trilogy of Love - Dating, Relationships, Breakups and being Happily Single!
• Bringing SexyBack - Safer Sex and YOU
• You and Only YOU – Healthy Gay Identity and YOU
The second run of yOUTh is slated to start in end Oct 07, spanning about 4 months.
Group Size will be capped at 15.
If you are interested, between the age of 16 to 21, LGBT and want to find out more, do contact us at young.out.here@gmail.com
If you do know of a fellow GLBT youth from this age group, do help to spread the word around!
yOUTH is sponsored by fridae.com and Action for Aids (Singapore)
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06.19.06
Posted in General, LUSH, Relationships, Support Groups at 12:05 pm by jin
Last week I attended a friend’s wedding. The bible passage chosen for the reading was 1Corinthians 13:4-8 about Charity aka Love. “Love is patient & kind etc”. Probably the most quoted verses at weddings. The ceremony was also traditional in the sense that the bride and groom had slightly different vows. Both of them promised to be Loving and Faithful, but she in addition had to be Obedient too.
I’m sure this practice has its roots in Ephesians 5:22-33. (Probably the 2nd-most quoted passage at weddings.) “Wives, submit to your husbands … for the husband is the head of the wife … blah blah etc”. Coincidentally or not, this verse came up during Bible study during the cell group session the day before I attended the wedding. And ironically or not, this passage was the main reason why I stopped going to church many years ago.
For the period of my life when I had boyfriends, I was disillusioned about Christianity and one big reason was this verse. Submit?!? I wasn’t about to yield to anyone, regardless whether they held the status of my boyfriend or lover. It conjured up images of docile, spineless women who tiptoe around like cowering mice. Doormats, basically. It all made me want to cringe or puke.
Read the rest of this entry »
- About: Jin aspires to be a loving, faithful, obedient christian wife
- Forum discussion: Christianity
- technorati: lesbian, gay, queer, christianity, gay christians, glbt, submission, submit
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05.09.06
Posted in General, Singapore Gay News, Support Groups at 3:44 pm by snorkeem
We are a women’s support group for lesbian and bisexual women who meet in a safe space for face to face discussions to share, connect and support one another.
This is a support group for women who seek to come to terms with their sexual identity and who want to achieve a healthy integration of their sexual identity into their lives. The support group sessions aims at developing awareness in the self, relationships, community and resources available.
The OC Women’s support group is back for its second run !
What The Sessions Are About
The sessions, like those from the first run is titled “Finding The Me Within.” The aim of these sessions is for you the participant, to engage in a process of self discovery and understanding through the sharing of views and what you take away from each of your life experience. You will also be listening to what the other women participants have to share. In the sessions, we shall be focussing on each of your experiences in coming out, relationships with partners, family and work. We shall also be touching on how the law affects us and benefits us, sexual health and the different resources and assistance available.
As was intended with the first group, when the 10 sessions are over, you and the other women participants from this group can form an informal support group to continue being a source of support for each other.
What It Takes
Commitment in time, commitment to have an open mind, commitment to play it fully.
For many of you, this will be the first time being in a support group. How much you gain from it correlates directly with how much of yourself you allow to give.
When
Run 2 starts in June 2006 with 10 sessions carried out on 2 Saturdays each month, starting in June 2006 and finishing in October 2006
Group Size
Strictly no more than 12 women.
If you have what it takes and are interested in joining us, indicate via email to OCWomen@oogachaga.com no later than 20th of May 2006. If you wish to know more about Oogachaga, visit us at http://www.oogachaga.com/.
Voices of past participants :
“I have opened my eyes to important issues happening to women that need to be addressed. The experiences and knowledge that I’ve gained from OC Women are truly inspiring and empowering. I hope many others will get a chance to experience the support and comfort that OC Women has given me.”
“OC Women support group has been effective in providing a safe and non-judging environment for its participants to discuss issues of the heart and mind. I discovered that even though each of our lives is unique, the challenges and gifts we face are varied and yet similar. Learning about the life paths and choices of some the participants has been humbling. If you push your limits and play it 100%, the group sessions will more often than not surpass your expectations.”
“What has probably proven life-changing for me is the mere act of having participated in these discussions and the various social activities. That was a very practical way of learning to acknowledge my sexuality in the larger context of the life I lead. I feel that I have taken an irrevocable step. It is in some ways like climbing up and out of a cellar and
finding (to one’s delight) that the steps leading back down have crumbled to dust; there is no way back down”
“The group became a playground where I could just be my fun-loving self with a group of buddies who, just like me have their own share of hang-ups and idiosyncrasies. It was good to laugh at myself and at one another. The way we united in our diversity was amazing. Sharing one’s experiences was good for my spirit and bonded us in friendship’.
- Forum discussion: Events
- technorati: support group, lesbian, glbt, queer, singapore
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03.24.06
Posted in Coming out, General, Identity, LUSH, Support Groups at 10:07 am by jin
It was last Thursday. I had tea with my aunt’s ex-gay friend. Actually I had met her once before, so when we met this time, we just started by chatting about things in general. We talked about bars and clubs, because she is a musician and has been playing in nightspots her whole professional life. (This was some hip 47-year-old, OK!)
The conversation was very informal and friendly all the time. Mostly she was just sharing about her past and telling me about her experiences. She was not offensive or patronising or condescending. She didn’t say “If I can change and be straight, you can and must do it too”. I think I was just (as usual) preparing myself for the worst. Having never met anyone who hails from the ex-gay camp (pun intended), I half expected this lady to be a Bible-thumping, verse-spewing, self-righteous, re-virginised prude who would stare down at me from atop her high horse.
But she actually seemed quite normal. Her stand is that though homosexuality is wrong, maybe it is just part of my journey. Maybe it is just a phase that I have to go through to experience something or other. (I’m fine with that. People are allowed to draw whatever conclusions they wish, as long as they are not offensive, or trying to force me to believe what they believe.)
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- About: Jin is boldly testing the waters.
- Column:
- Forum discussion: Christianity
- technorati: lesbian, gay, ex-gay, queer, coming out, christianity, gay christians
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03.16.06
Posted in Coming out, General, Identity, LUSH at 12:32 pm by jin
I’ve been wearing a rainbow-coloured rubber wristband. You know, those wristbands that come in various colours, first it was a yellow one from the Lance Armstrong Foundation, then there was the dual black/white for anti-racism, and before long, even Giordano and McDonalds were selling them too. I’m not one for fads, so I’ve never owned or bought one in any of the myriad of colours they come in. Except this Rainbow one.
My gf and I bought one each, from a gay shop in Sydney. Our $10 went in support of the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade. We put them on as we left the shop, and to me, it was like now I was “branded”, I was wearing a visible sign that acknowledges that I am gay. My gf wondered if wearing rainbow wristbands would attract attention and maybe get us beaten up by some anti-gay hooligans.
It was a big step for me, my small triumph of activism. Declaring to the world “Hey, I am gay, and I don’t mind letting you know that either.” Ordinarily, people would not glance twice at me because my appearance fits the stereotype of “straight”, but this time, we both felt somewhat self-conscious as we walked back to the train station. Read the rest of this entry »
- About: Jin believes that if not for tiny little drops of water, there would be no ocean.
- Forum discussion: Sayoni Forum
- technorati: lesbian, queer, gay, coming out, sydney mardi gras 06, gay pride, identity
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03.12.06
Posted in General, LUSH, Support Groups at 5:03 pm by jin
So today at 5pm I’m supposed to go meet up with my aunt’s ex-gay friend. (How did this happen?)
Yes! I finally came out to my uncle and aunt. This was two Thursdays ago (every time we have dinner at their house it seems to be a Thursday). After dinner, we were still loitering around the dinner table, and I said to my uncle “I have something to tell you, I am gay.”
It was something like jumping into a chilly swimming pool on a hot day. You are comfy and warm on the deck chair. Yet you know you want to go into the pool. You know it’s going to be deliciously cold and refreshing once you’re in, but you also know that the transition, the split second that the icy water hits your sun-warmed skin, is going to be a jolt. So you steel your nerves, grit your teeth, take a deep breath and jump in.
And once I had said it, it really was kinda like being underwater; a shiver ran through my body and I was still holding my breath and adjusting to the shock of the transition. And there was silence. A few seconds where everything sounded very distant and dull.
Read the rest of this entry »
- About: Jin is boldly testing the waters.
- Column:
- Forum discussion: Christianity
- technorati: lesbian, gay, queer, coming out, christianity, gay christians
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02.15.06
Posted in General, LUSH, Support Groups at 12:14 pm by jin
Last Thursday I failed again in my ongoing mission to come out to my aunt and uncle. I have been wanting to take that step, to share with them about myself but have been too chicken. I am scared. Scared of their reaction, scared of the turmoil that might follow.
(I am only out to 3 family members, but coming out to this aunt and uncle represents a big step because I am closest to them; my uncle was my legal guardian after my mother passed away, and they continue to look out for, and care for, my sister and me.)
Last Thursday seemed like a better time than most. (And I’ve been told that there will NEVER be a “good” time to come out to family.) It seemed like a good time because 1) we hadn’t planned on meeting them but my sister sms’d me in the day and asked if I would be free to have dinner at their house. So it seemed like I was being presented with The Opportunity to meet with them and talk to them, just when I’d been thinking about it. And 2) They seemed to be in a good mood. Light-hearted and friendly. And 3) I was all psyched up after talking to Sandy and Janet, this lesbian couple from California; Sandy’s a pastor, and Janet is a missionary, and they came to visit our church and spend some time with us the week before last. And the main message that spoke to me the most was the fact that we are not here on earth to please other people. We are accountable only to our Heavenly Father. And what’s more, She has a great plan for us. And the fact that She created us Special, as LGBT people, means she wants to use us for Extraordinary things.
There are other Very Good Reasons why I shouldn’t make an issue out of coming out to them. Like the fact that I am an adult; I don’t depend on them for a place to stay; they can’t disown me (not being my parents in the first place); and I am doing nothing wrong by being gay.
But somehow, something always stops me from blurting out the words. I can’t seem to gather the courage. I tell myself that there is no reason to change the way things are right now. I anticipate that they will think less of me. Somehow my resolve falters, and I change my mind, and think “Maybe there will be a better time to tell them…”
When LUSH first started, I thought to myself, “But I don’t think that being gay is a sin. So that means that I am not conflicted. So I won’t have anything in common with the other girls in the group who DO think that it is a sin to be gay.”
But as I thought about it more, I realized that “being conflicted” doesn’t simply mean thinking that being gay is a sin. I realized that my eternal struggle to proudly come out to my family is a reflection that I am also conflicted in a sense.
And this is one of my struggles. I continually search myself. Do I really claim that “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength” (Phil 4:13)?Psalm 139:13-16 says “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
And yet, the turmoil within me churns on…
- About: Jin is in an eternal struggle to keep her halo in the right place. She is also the founder of LUSH (Lesbians United for Self-Help), a support group for gay Christian women.
- Column:
- Forum discussion: Christianity
- technorati: lesbian, gay, queer, coming out, christianity, gay christians
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01.08.06
Posted in Coming out, Identity, LUSH, Support Groups at 10:49 am by jin
This is the monthly column by jin on being a gay christian and the journey towards finding God and herself.
Wow! My own column! With people to read it! I feel like Carrie Bradshaw. Yes, you may imagine me tapping this out on my laptop, sprawled on my bed, propped up by my elbows, thoughtful faraway look in my eyes. But I’m not thin. And not American. And, actually, I am scribbling this on the MRT.
My name is Jin, you may know me as one of the founders and facilitators of LUSH: Lesbians United for Self-Help. This group was started in November this year, for Christian lesbians from various walks of life to come together and share their experiences in life, and form a safe support network for each other.
You may also know me as the elder of 2 daughters, with a large, lively (read: noisy) extended family. It’s hard for you to know me without some mention of my family because they are part of my life, and growing up surrounded by so many relatives must have had an impact in shaping me in some way or other. So the story of my life thus far, will definitely include some information about my family. Or “clan” as we sometimes call it.
Background knowledge: The whole family is Christian, mostly Methodist.
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- Column:
- About: Jin is in an eternal struggle to keep her halo in the right place. She is also the founder of LUSH (Lesbians United for Self-Help), a support group for gay Christian women.
- Forum discussion: Christianity
- technorati: lesbian, gay, queer, coming out, christianity, gay christians
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