Aware: I am a Liberal

I am a Liberal

The recent AWARE issue has shown how the conservatives are now going on the offensive. I am very much against their stand. Basically they think that homosexuality is immoral and should not be 'encouraged', and that gay activists have a long term agenda they are pursuing that goes beyond repealing certain laws.

What we need to recognize is that 'encourage' is the wrong word to use here. Gays are starting off from a position of being discriminated against, and all that gay activists want to do is to remove these discrimination. The key word here is 'discrimination'. Does removing discrimination constitute encouragement?

Homosexuality to me is a neutral word - just like what colour I like. A fact of life, personal orientation, no moral overtones. What's there to encourage? Not like it is a courtesy movement, where there is a broader social good to be achieved.

Also, does encouragement work? Does it mean I will change my sexual orientation if someone encourages me to? It's like food - I dont like to eat pig liver and no amount of encouragement will persuade me to have a bite. It doesnt matter if it's environmental conditioning or biological.

What these people are doing is they want to perpetuate discrimination, so as to 'discourage' people from being gay. Again using my food argument - does it work? People who are gay are gay, and people who are not are not!

And the government? It always say that as a responsible government, it will make some decisions even if it will cost them some votes. But it has been hands off on the gay discrimination issue, . Either there are significant conservative forces in the govt, or they simply dont care. Why bother upsetting voters for such a minority issue of no great consequence to the nation.

The government has preached acceptance on the part of the conservatives, and moderation in pursuing their rights for the gay activists, warning that gay activists risk facing a backlash from a largely conservative society.

Are we largely conservative? Anyway acceptance is not the same as non discrimination. And as long as there remains the belief that homosexuality is immoral or disgusting, discrimination cannot be eliminated (can still remain in psychological form even if laws are changed), and only acceptance can be achieved.

I understand that discrimination can never be rooted out. What I hope to see though is a world where discrimination is criticized and recognized as contemptible in public opinion. Would Thio Li Ann and friends have gotten away if they talked about racial discrimination rather than gay discrimination? Yet both are the same and fundamentally contemptible. There was a time where slavery, gender discrimination and colonialization were not viewed as immoral, and I hope gay discrimination will go the same way and gradually be recognized as abhorring in time to come.

It is very timely that I am reading Conscience of a Liberal by Paul Krugman now. I would like to see how these conservatives move their agenda forward. Maybe they can take a leaf from the Republicans, but I dont think they will succeed. Unlike the hippies generation in America where there was rising crime rate and stuff, or in Europe where immigrants from Eastern Europe led to rising support for racists, dont think there's much happening in Singapore that will contribute to a rising tide of support for the conservatives and their anti-gay stance.

Hope I'm right.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/sunkopitiam/messages?msg=27734.81