The Dancing Baby
In 1999, a group of gay and bisexual men came together to form a peer-led social support group. They chose the name ‘Oogachaga’, referencing the computer-generated dancing baby from the American TV series, ‘Ally McBeal’. In the TV series, the dancing baby appeared as a recurring hallucination to the protagonist, Ally.
This baby might represent different things to different people – shame, fears, hopes, dreams. These are things we often keep hidden to ourselves, which may re-emerge when we least expect it. The dancing baby is a reminder for all of us to embrace all these thoughts, feelings and experiences we keep hidden.
Also, the song that accompanies the dancing baby when it appears on the show is 'Hooked On A Feeling', which starts with an opening chant: “ooga-chaga-ooga-chaga-ooga-ooga-ooga-chaga”. The first line of the song then goes: “I can’t stop this feeling, deep inside of me". That is a line that many people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning (LGBTQ+) can certainly relate to.
They co-founders of Oogachaga were all survivors of a so-called “conversion therapy” program called “Choices”, run by the Church of Our Saviour, the Singapore branch of a movement originally founded in the United States of America. You can read more about the harmful impact of these practices in Singapore here.
Over the years, Oogachaga has grown to become more than just a dancing baby and support group for gay and bisexual men.
Key Milestones Over the Years
1999 Started first men’s support group, called Oogachaga Men (OCM) at a residential unit along Zion Road.
2000 Started face-to-face counselling service by volunteers.
2003 First professional workshop for practitioners, titled “Homosexuality and Homophobia - Applied Therapeutic Issues for Counsellors”.
2004 Oogachaga is formally registered under ACRA, along with parent organisation SPACES Counseling and Community Limited, a registered charity.
2005 First community forum and women’s support group, Oogachaga Women (OCW).
2006 Publication of ‘SQ21: Singapore Queers in the 21st century', and launch of OC Hotline, Singapore’s first LGBTQ phone counselling service (initially known as the MSM Hotline) on 16 February.
2008 Setting up of counselling centre with full-time professional staff, in The Office Chamber, 230 Jalan Besar.
2009 Staff and volunteers attend Singapore's first-ever Pink Dot; published collection of gay short stories in Mandarin 同类 (Tong Lei); launched Project Undress Your Soul
2010 Celebrated A Decade of Embracing Diversity; conducted survey for Mature Men Project; launch of CARE email counselling, Singapore’s first LGBTQ email counselling service; office moved to 41A Mosque Street in Chinatown.
2011 Launch of Take Action!; conducted online needs assessment survey of social service professionals; started one run of transgender support group called OC Trans.
2012 Launch of Congregaytion, a resource portal for the LGBTQ+ community; conducted survey of LGBTQ+ community's experiences of discrimination; co-authored paper in the Annals, Academy of Medicine, Singapore.
2013 Launch of Singapore’s first LGBTQ Whatsapp counselling service; launch of 'Sexuality Explained' video series.
2014 Involved in the 'HPB FAQs on Sexuality' saga; conducted OC Women's needs assessment survey; launch of Women On Wednesdays, Singapore’s first LBTQ+ women’s hotline run by women hotliners; launch of Take Pride safer sex campaign; counselling services exceed 1,000 service-units per year; started collaboration with Dr Tan and Partners; office moved to 57B Pagoda Street, Chinatown.
2015 Successful trade mark of the name ‘Oogachaga’ with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS); staff meet Law Minister K Shanmugam to discuss discrimination faced by Singapore's LGBTQ community, school bullying and employment opportunities for transgender persons; submitted a joint report to United Nations Human Rights Council, and lobbied diplomatic missions in Geneva as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) process for Singapore.
2016 Pilot run of ‘Snapchat from the Closet’, in collaboration with Ogilvy & Mather Singapore, winning Silver in the media category at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity; launched fundraising campaign video 'Hate Hurts'.
2017 Organised first-ever fundraising gala, 'Cirque du so Glam'; joined The Commonwealth Equality Network as an organisational member; filmed conversation with Law & Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, talking about drug use in the LGBTQ community and public harassment of Pink Dot volunteers.
2018 Reprint of ‘SQ21’ by Math Paper Press; received the Gilead Asia Pacific Rainbow Grant; revamp of Oogachaga.LGBT and Congregaytion websites; launch of Singapore's first LGBTQ community-led drug-free campaign #OurStoryIs; total number of counselling sessions for the the year exceeds 2,000 for the first time.
2019 Oogachaga celebrates ‘20 Years of Supporting Singapore’s LGBTQ+ Community’ with an anniversary logo. Presented 50 corporate partners & foreign missions with commemorative rainbow flags printed with the 20th anniversary logo. Co-organised LGBTQ community dialogue session with Minister for Law and Home Affairs, K Shanmugam. Collaborated with Trouble Brewing and Heckin’ Unicorn to produce the fund-raising Unicorn Ale.
2020
With the world plunged into the COVID-19 pandemic, the phone hotline was temporarily suspended for the first time, while volunteers & staff members worked from home to continue running the WhatsApp, email and professional counselling services online. The new position of Youth Worker was created, and Singapore’s first-ever LGBTQ community youth survey was conducted. To mark World Suicide Prevention Day in September, and World Mental Health Day in October, online workshops were conducted, and specially-commissioned comic strips launched. In October, Oogachaga and Pink Dot SG made a joint stakeholder submission to the United Nations Human Rights Council as part of the Universal Periodic Review of Singapore. More comic strips were specially-commissioned to raise awareness of the recommendations. Overall demand for counselling services was high, reaching a total of 2,856 professional, WhatsApp, email and hotline counselling sessions for the year, an all-time record.
2021
Into the second year of the global COVID-19 pandemic, staff members and volunteers adjusted to a hybrid arrangement of working from home and in the office, in line with prevailing government guidelines and restrictions. The Youth Program was launched with monthly online Kopi/ Teh sessions, and we welcomed a new Centre Manager. To raise awareness of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Singapore by the United Nations Human Rights Council in May, a series of comic strips was commissioned to highlight local LGBTQ community issues. To mark IDAHOT on 17 May, a webinar titled “The Economic Case for LGBT Equality” was co-organised with the U.S. Embassy Singapore, which resulted in a public rebuke by the Singapore Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During Pride month, we launched “I’ll Walk With You: A guide for parents of transgender children”, and fulfilled a record number of corporate engagements. We also received shocking news that a volunteer and former staff member was the victim of a homophobic attack. We launched Singapore’s first multilingual online portal for older LGBTQ persons living with HIV, called Precious SG.
2022
The year started with the Court of Appeal ruling on the constitutional challenge of section 377A of the Penal Code; Oogachaga chairperson & former executive director Bryan Choong was one of the appellants. The rest of the year was primarily focussed on ongoing engagement with fellow community organisations, government ministers, political office holders and members of parliament, including visits by Sun Xueling, Desmond Tan and Henry Kwek. This culminated in the announcement by the Prime Minister at the National Day Rally in August that section 377A would be repealed; this was achieved by Parliament in November. In April, we launched our first-ever comprehensive community survey to invite feedback about our services, called “Oogachaga Hears You”. A successful fundraising event “Boogie Pasoh” was organised in June. In July, due to significant fall in demand, the telephone hotline service was permanently closed. In August, we launched Singapore’s first-ever community survey of LGBTQ+ youth sexual health. After a 2-year pause, new volunteers were recruited and trained for the WhatsApp and email counselling services, as well as the youth program.
2023
The year started with the news that section 377A has been officially repealed, after the gazetting of the Penal Code (Amendment) Act 2022 on 3 January 2023. Representing Oogachaga, chairperson Bryan Choong was a presenter at the Human Rights Conference as part of Sydney WorldPride 2023. With decriminalisation, the Singapore flag was finally removed from the Amsterdam Rainbow Dress and brought home. In April, key findings from the LGBTQ+ youth sexual health survey “Let’s Talk About Sex” were published. In May, executive director Leow Yangfa was invited to present at the Hong Kong AIDS Concern Conference 2023: Beacon of LGBT+ Health. Leading up to an exceptionally busy Pride Month, for the first time Revolut and IKEA collaborated with Oogachaga for separate fundraising campaigns; Revolut with their Diversity Card and IKEA with “This bag is pink”. At the Pink Dot media launch, Oogachaga announced its first ever family support programme, called “My Family Matters”, where the inaugural event in July was attended by more than 25 parents & family members of LGBTQ+ persons. In August, along with representatives from other local LGBTQ+ community organisations, Oogachaga was invited to dialogue with Ministry of Manpower and TAFEP officials on upcoming plans for Workplace Fairness Legislation. Short Circuit - Singapore’s own queer short film festival - returned in October and included Oogachaga as one of their 2 charity beneficiaries. To mark World Mental Health Day on 10 October, Oogachaga was invited to attend and present at the 3rd Global Summit for Mental Health Advocates, organised by Silver Ribbon Singapore. The year closed with the launch of an online survey - developed in collaboration with regional partners - looking at LGBTQ+ mental health in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand. In November 2023, the charity formerly known as SPACES Counseling and Community Limited was officially renamed to Oogachaga Community Services Limited.