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PAS, politicians, don't bash gays for mileage

I refer to Rev O Young’s article in Malaysiakini titled “ It is not only about gay people ”.

It is rare for any local publication, print or web, to carry such positive discussions on the subject. It is therefore quite disappointing to see comments from readers asking why this topic is relevant to Malaysiakini, or worse, sarcastic comments like “oh, not again”.

If one were to make these comments on other topics like gender and women issues, or Orang Asli issues, or even animal rights issues such as the shooting of dogs recently, I am sure many will take offence.

However, as the reverend has pointed out in his series of articles, the rights of gays are the least popular, and might I add, the least cared for in our society, even amongst those who generally uphold principles of human rights and other rights, and who fight against injustices of various kinds.

Granted a majority of people are presumably heterosexual and they feel this does not concern them. But as O Young has taken great pains to explain, it may indeed affect you indirectly, in the form of people whom you know or are related to.

And even if it doesn’t, it is high time the issue is embraced along with other human rights causes. I mean, it would be irresponsible for me to put down the fight for women’s rights just because it doesn’t concern me.

So why is what O Young writing about important to those of heterosexual persuasions? For one, it is part of what I hope is a collective aspiration often expressed in these pages for a more open, tolerant and progressive Malaysia. One that values the rights of all its citizens and their contributions to the nation, regardless of ethnicity, social status or sexuality.

It becomes troubling when this noble aspiration becomes clouded with discrimination, whether from a religious or personal-moral standpoint. What is most disturbing about the comments on the topic here so far has been the making of exceptions for gays, in the struggle for rights and equal treatment.

In this respect, what Helen Ang wrote in her column this week seems appropriate: “If a society’s moral progress is measured by how it treats its most powerless and vulnerable members.” ( M'sia impoverishes the Hindu gods )

Gays have been subject to all kinds of discrimination and harassment because a segment of society feels it is wrong. In this day and age of elucidation we should know better, but some prefer that they don’t want to know better.

It is fine to hold your bias privately, quite another matter to publicly pronounce those biases. Putting it blankly, your private biases are harmless to others in private; made public, it becomes someone else’s justification to abuse, oppress, extort, incarcerate (as we all are seeing now) and even inflict harm and commit murder.

How many kids must commit suicide from the pressures, how many weaker ones abused by the stronger, even by the police, and how many mentally scarred, before people realise the damage their hate has caused?

In terms of human rights and the right to freedom of religion, using religion to justify homophobia is untenable. Religion is a personal pursuit, and it should not be imposed on others, whether on those of other beliefs, or even on those of the same faith.

    

We read time and again how it is God who supposedly forbids homosexuality, that is, in Christianity, Islam and Judaism, ignoring the fact that there is on-going debate and moderation in this matter worldwide.

But the main issue here is not whether there is agreement or not, the issue is that the world is not ruled by the word of one God alone. Not all religions espouse condemnation of homosexuality. The statement we often hear, by PAS and Umno alike (especially from Mahathir), that “all religions condemn homosexuality” is blatantly false, but no one really cares to debate this.

In Eastern religions like Hinduism and Buddhism, sexuality is not an issue. Gender is irrelevant, because in the constant cycle of rebirth one has lived lives as both male and female. Deities can assume either gender forms, and can switch back and forth, or emanate in either.

We believe the Gods also do not dictate approval or punish for transgression, certainly not in terms of sexual preference, and fundamentally we believe our lives are controlled by the forces of cause and effect, or karma., that is beyond the powers of even the Gods.

It is a totally different view of spirituality that, as rightfully pointed out in Ang’s abovementioned article, has been completely sidelined and ignored in public religious discourse in Malaysia, and part of the blame if you can call it that, lies in the fact that Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists and so on, are not concerned what others think about their beliefs and see no need to publicise it. Religion, after all, is a personal pursuit, a communion between the person and his/her God or spiritual superior, that no law can or should dictate.

For this reason, Hindu Gods take on myriads of forms, to connect with the myriad of individuals who are all different and have different needs. Likewise Buddha said he taught at least 84,000 ways to practice Buddhism, because all of us are different. Indeed diversity and tolerance are features of Eastern religions.

Perhaps that is the reason why homophobia and gay bashing are little known in the history of the East. It is heartening that in India the offensive Section 377 is being reviewed. It is also surprising that a popular Tamil film Goa recently shown on Astro includes a gay couple, not as the clowns or cliched characters they often are in other films, but actually as the more level-headed and smarter characters in the film that provide good advice and guidance to the lead characters.

Sadly, Astro saw it fit to censor scenes where the couple makes up after a misunderstanding, although they left other scenes in the jealousy thread intact. It is heartwarming that during the end credits, the characters make a call for tolerance, a first really in a mainstream Tamil film, although most will miss the message. In this respect, isn’t it a little perverse that all that violence and gore gets by on Astro, but not a positive scene about two people expressing their love for each other? What is so offensive about that?

At the end of the day, those who feel their religion does not approve of homosexuality should keep it their personal belief. You say your God tells you it’s wrong, that’s fine, don’t go there. But let others with other beliefs live their lives as well. That is certainly what the principle of freedom of religion is all about.

And it isn’t about the numbers either - just because one group is in the majority, it doesn’t give them the right to impose their religious beliefs on the minority. And I am sure the constitutional protection of Islam is not meant it to sideline other religious beliefs.

Finally, why the subject is relevant is that I think while Malaysian gays do not see a future in any sort of movement, as the critics so fear, we do hope that politicians stop using the issue for political mileage.

Gays have no illusion that Pakatan is any less homophobic than the present government, as shown by the recent PAS Youth objections to the gay church issue and Adam Lambert’s concert.

I also recall Anwar Ibrahim, despite being unwitting victim of a law that oppresses gays, publicly saying a few years ago that “homosexuality is wrong” in justifying his persecution by what he admits is an unjust law. That was a major slap in the face for a lot of gay PKR supporters and Anwar sympathisers.

I’d like to remind these politicians that gays are voters too. By Kinsey’s estimate 10 percent of the population are fully homosexual; that is a whole lot of voters, not to mention the rest who lie in the in-between spectrum. If you doubt Kinsey, then go to India’s health NGO Naz Foundation’s figures, that are even more staggering.

Perhaps, in light of the recent by-election disasters, PAS should concentrate less on demonising gays to show how moral and righteous they are, and start on seeing how they can effectively serve a multi-racial multi-religious Malaysia, rather than convince a multi-racial Malaysia to serve their singular political-religious aspirations.

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