Yayasan Guru Malaysia Berhad (YGMB), one of the organisers of a Penang forum to discuss Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transexual (LGBT) tendencies among schoolchildren has denied issuing guidelines to identify LGBT students.

"We have not come out with any guidelines, it is just an explanation for teachers on how to cope with the problem.

"We were merely giving advice, it is an awareness programme," YGMB coordinator Hasnul Hadi Abdullah Sani told Malaysiakini in a phone interview.

He also deflected criticism that such programmes would lead to discrimination against students with LGBT tendencies in schools.

"No, we do not discriminate, we just wanted to create awareness," he said.

NONE However, when queried on how the point-by-point identification for gays and lesbians came about, Hasnul Hadi professed ignorance.

Earlier, he had  batted questions on the supposed "guidelines" to the Education Ministry.

When contacted via email, Deputy Education Minister Mohd Puad Zarkashi declined to comment.

"Ask the organisers, I was there just to officiate at the seminar," he said.

Mohd Puad ignored subsequent correspondence on whether the mnistry had really endorsed the "guidelines".

The deputy minister was yesterday quoted by Sinar Harian as saying the exposure of "symptoms" of gays and lesbian was the best approach to address the "unhealthy phenomenon" among students.

According to Sin Chew daily, the "guidelines" were distributed to all present at the forum on Wednesday.

The other organiser of the forum was the Putrajaya Consultative Council of Parents and Teachers Associations.

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