Sunday, October 01, 2006
Our beginnings
SAFE was born appropriately, at a Mother’s Day Forum titled “Unconditional Love” held on 7 May 2006 by AWARE (Association of Women for Action and Research) Singapore. It was an afternoon spent sharing stories of unconditional love and celebrating the voices of mothers who love against all odds, stories that spoke of the power of a mother’s love in the face of negative societal stigmatization of gay people.

The forum surfaced issues of handling parental expectations and good intentions, the emotions that accompanied the complex issue of coming out, and how important it is to keep family relationships close and communication channels open.

One of the panellists, Khoo Hoon Eng, who is herself a mother of two gay sons, spoke of her love for both her sons, and expressed pride over how both are socially conscious individuals who want to make a difference to society. At the close of the afternoon, she was moved to moot the idea of a support group for parents and family, a group that she wished was available for guidance and perhaps just a listening ear, when her sons came out to her.

SAFE was thus born, and with this website, provides a place where parents, family members and friends of gay and transgender people can find information to understand the issues better, learn from accepting families, share stories and experiences, and most of all learn to build strong and close relationships with their loved ones.

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