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From Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgender_people_in_Singapore
The history and subculture surrounding Transgender people in Singapore is substantial. Not immediately apparent to Singapore's mainstream society is the fact that the gay community sees itself as a totally separate entity from the transgender communities (often also referred to as "transvestite and transsexual" communities). They are individual subcultures with many different priorities and concerns.
National service was implemented in 1967, whereby all 18-year old males were required to train full-time for two or two-and-a-half years, depending on their educational attainment. Transgender was listed as a condition in a Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) 'Directory of Diseases' and recruits who outed themselves to the examining doctors at the Central Manpower Base (CMPB) at Deport Road had their 'deployability' denied in sensitive positions. They were classified as Category 302 personnel, downgraded to a Personnel Employment Status of C or E and assigned only non-combat roles at military bases.
As Singaporean gynaecological surgeons became more skillful, leaders in the field like Prof. S Shan Ratnam were authorised to perform Sex reassignment surgery male-to-female (SRS) at Kandang Kerbau Hospital. The first such operation in Asia took place in Singapore in July 1971. However, before patients could go under the knife, they first had to subject themselves to an exhaustive battery of tests and be given a clean psychological bill of health by chief academic psychiatrist Prof. Tsoi Wing Foo.
In 1973, Singapore legalized sex-reassignment surgery. A policy was instituted to enable post-operative transsexual people to change the legal gender on their identity cards (but not their birth certificates) and other documents which flowed from that. There was no specific provision in the statutes which allowed the Registrar to do this, so it existed probably only at the level of a policy directive. However, for over 20 years, this policy seemed to have operated smoothly.
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Last updated: October 4, 2010