Letter to the Straits Times on 377A

Wrote this during the debate over 377A...

Headline: No to 377A, No to homosexual sex

I belong to the 70% of Singaporeans in the NTU study cited by “Keep 377A.com” who disapprove of the homosexual lifestyle. I do however think that criminalization of homosexual sex is not necessarily the best way to express disapproval.

The other day, I was speaking with a good friend who professed to be homosexual about among other things section 377A the gay lifestyle. During the conversation, he asked me jokingly “surely you would not call the police to arrest me right?”

That got me thinking. I for one would not want my friend arrested. I do want however for my friend to be happy and I really don’t think that a homosexual lifestyle will lead to that.

Our conversation continued on the need for love, intimacy and friendship and he mention that surely I am not going to say that a gay person should be deprived of that.

“Yes I replied, you are looking for love, intimacy and friendship, we all are. However, I don’t think you will find it by engaging in homosexual sex acts. I do think you would be alienating yourself from the love and the intimacy you desire. As plugs go with sockets, our bodies are made in a certain way to complement each other and I don’t think it is wise to force two bodies which do not to speak the language of union to unite when it is literally physically not possible. You may be sincere in loving your partner and I don’t deny that, yet the physical reality remains and I don’t think mind over matter will work in this instance. So to be honest, the loving thing to do really is to abstain from sex.”

I don’t know if my friend agreed with me or not but he did look like he was at least thinking about what I said.

Not everything that is unhealthy or morally wrong need necessarily be criminal. If it were, then arguably unhealthy practices like smoking and committing adultery should be criminalized as well. We don’t do that because we believe that public education is the better approach in tackling these issues.

Perhaps opponents of the gay lifestyle should do the same when we approach so called “gay issues” rather than simply lobby for criminalization and pressing the buttons of moral panic. Hopefully, gay persons will see that we are not prejudiced bigots who simply attempt to use our majority status to persecute a minority group but are able to make our case for human happiness independent of the coercive power of the law.