I Will Survive: Personal gay, lesbian, bisexual & transgender stories in Singapore [Kindle Edition]

I'm not Singaporean and I'm not gay, but I found this book so moving. The personal stories are incredibly revealing, and cover many different aspects of being gay, lesbian or transgender in Singapore (which is a pretty conservative country)...relationships with family and with friends, dealing with harassment at work or NS, deciding whether to be true to yourself in public or be the person your family expects you to be. This book is well worth a read for anyone who is questioning their identity or has a friend of family member who is - it'll certainly help you understand what that person is probably going through.

I would really recommend this book to anyone who would like to find out more about struggles and tribulations of LGBT people living in Singapore. Although the stories relate to Singaporeans and/or people living there, they are also universal to anyone who has questioned their sexuality, sexual orientation, gender, etc.

Some stories may make you laugh, some will make you cry, they may take you on an emotional roller coaster, but most importantly will make you realise that we are all equal and deserve to be free to love whoever we choose to be with.

This book gets 5 starts from me!

As a mother of two gay sons and a friend of many gay people, these stories resonate with me. They could be the stories of my friends, my children or my friends' children.

These stories reveal very clearly that GLBT people are human beings with the same emotions and relationship issues that all people struggle with. However, as GLBT individuals, the issues are more fraught with pain and anguish because of the need to keep one's sexuality hidden or "covered", defined by Asian-American constitutional lawyer Kenji Yoshino as the "coerced hiding of crucial aspects of one's self"

I hope that reading these stories will convince you, regardless of your sexual orientation, that we all share the same deep-seated need to seek happiness and to be respected and loved. So let us treat everyone, including all our GLBT family and friends with dignity and respect so that they do not have to suffer for being who they are, nor have to remain "covered".

Dr Khoo Hoon Eng
Loving mother of two gay sons, AWARE activist & Action for AIDS volunteer

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"I was very touched by what I read. I would describe some of their experiences as unbelievable except that I believed them. Their candid honesty in describing difficult and sometimes painful and all too familiar Singapore experiences made me feel I not only knew them and Singapore better but knew myself better too. The unpretentious yet gripping narratives gave me a strong sense that these people are triumphant, practical survivors and I can be too."

Ovidia Yu
Award-winning playwright & novelist
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