Daily Lesson from Life 14 May 2009

"Govt stand on homosexuality clear
This was DPM's response to queries arising from the recent Aware saga. -Thu, May 14, 2009 The Straits Times

THE government's position on homosexuality is clear and it will not be pressured into changing it, said Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng on Thursday.

In response to media queries from The Straits Times arising from the recent Association of Women for Action and Research (Aware) saga, Mr Wong referred to the Prime Minister's speech in Parliament in October 2007, in which PM Lee Hsien Loong had said that Singapore is basically a conservative society and the conventional family, a heterosexual stable family, is the norm and building block of society.


'It has not changed,' said Mr Wong, who is also the Home Affairs Minister."

Yes. The homosexuality issue has been buzzing in the press and the cyberspace chat rooms and forums in the last few weeks in Singapore. Yes. It does need a clarification on the government stand on this issue to put some minds at ease.

Lessons for me are:

1. controversial issues exist in our world. Some can be left alone while some we need to take a stand firmly. Homosexuality is not really one of the issues I will stand firmly if not for the attempts to by the gay and lesbian community to educate our young that it is normal to have anal sex or something unnatural;

2. leaders need to be aware and be proactive when leadership is needed without being asked! When the AWARE Sexuality Program in schools was revealed to have some questionable elements and might have misled the young about what is natural and normal sexuality, the leaders should have stepped in earlier;

3. while I maintain that homosexuality is not unnatural unless someone can prove to me that it is biologically or genetically pre-disposed as anal sex or sex between the same gender cannot recreate - as it was intended by nature, I do not discriminate against those who choose to be a homo. However, it is a totally different story if they try to impose their values on mine and others.

Well, let's hope we don't have to talk about this topic for a while as I really believe the nation has far more important and challenging issues to deal with in this stressful financial tsunami time!