LGBTQ+ rights will always be a highly sensitive topic in Singapore. Therefore, any online broaching of the matter, especially an insensitive one, tends to draw attention.
Recently, a TikTok video depicting a clinic that offers conversion therapy went viral.
Many viewers objected to the clinic’s services, with influencer Titus Low even vandalising its signage.
One of the clinic’s owners has since stepped forward to clarify that the establishment is actually an LGBTQ-friendly bar, offering a safe space for members of the community.
A netizen posted footage of the Neil Road clinic to TikTok on 1 Aug, calling it out for offering conversion therapy.
Source: TikTok
A sign at the entrance indicates that it offers therapy sessions at S$300/hour. Sign up for two hours and one could get a special price of S$555.
There’s even hypnotherapy and electrotherapy, at S$450 and S$600 per session respectively.
Source: TikTok
The doctor providing the services, however, has a rather suspicious name — Dr Son. S. Hoe.
Understandably upset, many netizens expressed their indignation at the sight of the clinic offering such services.
Source: TikTok
Social media influencer Titus Low even demonstrated his dissatisfaction by vandalising the signage with some rather choice phrasing.
However, some netizens managed to figure out the clinic’s true identity, highlighting its satirical nature.
Source: TikTok
Others noted that no establishment offering such services would publicise themselves so blatantly.
Source: TikTok
In a series of Instagram stories, one of the establishment’s owners, Mr Jasper Goh, clarified its actual identity.
Source: @jaspergoh42 on Instagram
He explained that the ‘clinic’ was really a bar operating as a safe space for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
Offering conversion therapy is merely a mockery of such practices, much like the bar’s name — Conversion Therapy Clinic.
Source: @jaspergoh42 on Instagram
Mr Goh, who always wanted to open a speakeasy, shared how he arrived at the name:
I felt that the best one (conversion therapy clinic) was one that was a complete opposite to what was supposed to be inside.
So, rather than a clinic converting members of the LGBTQ+ community, his space is a safe haven for them.
Mr Goh also addressed Low’s ‘vandalism’, which turns out to be part of the gimmick too.
Source: @jaspergoh42 on Instagram
He explained that Low “was merely decorating the front of our (the) bar with his thoughts on when someone tries to get you to change who you really are”.
Keen customers can find more information about the bar, which looks to be launching soon, on their official Instagram page.
Conversion therapy is a deeply harmful practice that puts many at risk. The Ministry of Health does enforce legal actions against doctors that allegedly endanger patients with such services.
Turning the idea on its head is thus a creative move on Mr Goh’s part.
Hopefully, his concept will make waves once the bar launches and attract a steady stream of patrons.
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Featured image adapted from TikTok and @jaspergoh42 on Instagram.
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