What would you do and how would you feel when your very existence becomes the bane for other people? This is the dilemma gays and lesbians in Singapore face. If being truthful to oneself is a virtue, then homosexuals especially those who dare come out, deserve praise and not censure, for amidst the rocky road of public condemnation, they dare embrace a life of truth.

Gays and lesbians in the general sense never stop facing judgements, be it from their straight or homophobic peers. Homosexuals are unreservedly accused as being immoral individuals whose existence smacks of nothing but the craving for perpetual sex. This notion, skewed as it is, serves as a reminder that a life of truth always comes with a price.

Homosexuals throughout are shunned for yet another reason; they were once the 'harbinger' of the fatal HIV/Aids disease. While statistics today reveal that HIV/Aids is no longer a gay issue, the heterosexual community remains unconvicted and judgemental, refusing to give gays and lesbians the benefit of the doubt and welcome them into society's fold.

The condemnation that gays especially are responsible for the spread of the fatal HIV/Aids illness has resulted in homosexuals time and again being ostracised from society. More recently, the Singapore government banned a popular party called the Nation, organised by gay website friade.com, to be held in conjunction with Singapore's 40th independence day celebrations in August.

While the party has since been 'relocated' to the ever popular Phuket and will take place from Nov 4-6, the Singapore government's decision spells concern for the island's gay community who truly have become victims of gay-bashing by fellow heterosexuals.

The Malaysia-based New Straits Times reported recently that a study by researchers at the island's university showed that a majority of Singaporeans hold negative attitudes towards gay men and lesbians. Telephone interviews of some 1,000 respondents showed 68.6 per cent having a negative attitude, 22.9 per cent a positive attitude and 8.5 per cent taking a neutral stand.

Festival the culprit

Would the majority include the government itself for it was Singapore's senior minister of State for Health Balaji Sadasivan who assumed that the Nation festival could be the culprit behind the sharp rise in the number of new HIV infections in the island. He said an epidemiologist had suggested that the party "allows gays from high prevalance societies to fraternise with local gay men, seeding the infection in the local community".

Holding the epidemiologist's words as the gospel truth, a 'fatwa' was quickly executed to bring an end to the much anticipated festival. If that was not hurting enough, the republic's police offered its paltry worth saying that such a party would be 'contrary to public interest".

So determined is the government to clip whatever little freedom once enjoyed by its gay citizens that it has no qualms over the loss of US$6 million (RM22 million) tourist revenue generated by the Nation's bash, Asia's largest gay and lesbian event. Last year the party attracted 8,000 revellers, 40 per cent of them comprising global citizens.

The Nation party was on Singapore's calendar for four years and was always a hit compared to the island's cerebral and sombre traditional military-led parade attended by local and foreign dignitaries. Four years later, at the insistence of a senior health official, it was decided that the Nation would be removed from its events calendar.

One wonders if there is truly any other reason for the government's centurious attitude towards the Nation beach party.

Concern doubtful

New Straits Times in March quoted Dr Balaji as informing the Parliament that the total number of new HIV cases in 2004 reached a high of 311, nearly 30 per cent more than the predecessor year. Ninety percent of those who contracted the virus in 2004 were men, a third of them being gay.

The senior health minister cautioned that the new cases could merely reflect the tip of the iceberg as there could be 4,000 to 8,000 undiagnosed patients with HIV.

There are at present more than 2,000 people living with HIV/Aids in the 3.4 million-populated republic.

Is Balaji really concerned with the spread of HIV/Aids in Singapore or is he merely echoing the conservative sentiments of fellow Singaporeans who find little compassion for gays and lesbians? Is the government's scapegoat of gays an assurance to citizens that it will succeed in halting this incurable disease?

Would there be other factors such as insecurity over gay-right 'movement' taking shape in Singapore should the government offer anti-discriminatory laws to homosexuals that mask the republic's decision to be less tolerant of its gay citizens?

Singapore's discriminatory stands against its gay community not only reveals the government's zero tolerance of the human diversity but it also puts in place a 'paradigm shift' that has taken over Singapore with Premier Lee Hsien Loong taking over the island's reign from the more liberal Goh Chok Tong in Aug 2004.

Blatant disregard

It was Goh who assured the gay community in Singapore that they could hold civil service positions, emphasising his support with the remark that "they are like you and me". That was in July 2003.

Two years later, gays in Singapore are back to square one - it is back to the cold shoulder treatment not just from the government but also the 'regular' Singaporean. Now with Lee calling the shots and deciding what the gays can do in public, it makes one wonder if nations like Singapore truly accord any respect to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Arbitrary decisions on who can and cannot do in public makes a mockery of such fundamentals of human rights.

It is not known how many homosexuals there are in Singapore or what the percentage is like and one chief reason for this is Section 37 of the Singapore Penal Code which criminalises 'carnal intercourse against the order of nature' which includes consensual, private, adult homosexual acts. Punitive measures include life imprisonment or imprisonment for up to 10 years with or without a fine.

With such harsh law in place, in any survey or census, no citizen would readily admit to being what is essentially, in the eyes of the Law, a criminal. Whilst in the past this has not presented any problem as no population census conducted in Singapore ever tried to quantify homosexuals, now, with the growing cry for equal human rights and freedom of individual expression, the scenario is poised for a change, bringing with it great worry among the gay community.

The world is home to homosexuals as much as it is to heterosexuals and to homophobics. Yet while the straight people are accorded freedom of expression, it has snatched that very right away from gays and lesbians, for the reason that leaders of some nations hold the fallacy that they determine who belongs with whom in bedrooms.

Well, the truth however is this - that sexual orientation is a extremely private matter and the government under any circumstances and at all cost has no place and business making its presence felt in an individual's bedroom. The government does not belong in anyone's bedroom!

JJ RAY started her career with a mainstream publication. A non-conformist, she soon saw the barriers that went up whenever, through her writing, she tried to make the world a home for one and all.