I think one of the more interesting things about the recent campaign to repeal Section 377a is the amount of pro-repeal blog posts and articles written not just by gays, but by straight people who are not personally affected (so I assume) by this piece of archaic British colonial-era law.

Not only are these writings personal, but some are pretty analytical in demolishing some of the arguments of the retain 377a group and that of their spokesperson Thio Li-Ann. Here are some I have read and found interesting enough to direct all of you to.

The first one (which I happen to like a lot) is written by a heterosexual father of two kids who live in the "conservative" heartlands and who also happen to have a gay couple as neighbours. Read what he feels in his post "The Irrational Section 377A". The "conservative" heartland? I think the diverse and non-monolithic heartland is closer to the truth when I consider the above post along many others written by fellow heartlanders, gay or straight.

Then there is this amusing one written by a straight male Singaporean who claims the reason why 377a is retained is because "Singaporeans are scared sh*tless by gay people". Hmm... I guess there is some truth in it. After all, we usually fear what we do not know or understand. And a lot of Singaporeans either do not know any gay people or even if they do, do not understand them.

Getting nation-wide publicity and readership is the senior Straits Times correspondent Janadas Devan who picked apart Thio Li-Ann's logic in his Saturday "Thinking Aloud" column. An online version is found here.

And adding his voice to his former colleague's thoughts is the former journalist and now division head at NTU's Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information Asst Prof Cherian George (husband of journalist Zuraidah Ibrahim) in his post "ST's Janadas Devan exposes Li-Ann's Thiology".

There are too many out there to search out and list. But I think the above four should suffice for now.

Read it at your own leisure and enlightenment.

Meanwhile, like what PM Lee Hsien Loong said in parliament, Singapore will follow (maybe a few decades behind) but not lead in this issue. Hence, Singapore will be the only Chinese-majority country in the world where homosexual male sex is still illegal. China, Hong Kong and Taiwan have already done away with it. So much for progressiveness.

I guess the difference between those countries and Singapore is the amount of credence and clout they allow some religious groups, and of course the percentage of adherents of those same religion in relation to the general population.

And on that note, I would like to direct you to a infamous speech/essay written by the famous British philosopher Bertrand Russell, the 3^rd Earl Russell of Kingston Russell in the County of Dorset. Please scroll down and read the section entitled "The Emotional Factor". Of course whether you agree with it or not is entirely your prerogative.

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Addendum 30 Oct 2007:

I would like to include belatedly "Sam's Thoughts". Gosh this straight guy has written so much about repealing 377a and refuting the views and logic of the anti-gay lobby that it puts me, a gay man to shame. But considering the amount of stuff written by gay writers, it's refreshing to let the straight ones take the centre stage and make it known that there are straight people who think likewise.

I like his latest post "The plants in the garden" which attacks the ridiculous fallacy of the so-called "gay lifestyle". I mean like what the hell is the "gay lifestyle"? It's a label coined by the you-know-whos to dump all gays under. Makes it easier for them to target and attack I suppose.

Labels: lgbt, politics, singapore