According to Wikipedia, homosexuality refers to romantic or sexual attraction or behavior among members of the same sex, situationally or in an enduring disposition. Homosexuality is usually taken as abnormal or even immoral by some communities. Though legalization of homosexuality has raised heated debate over this issue and drawn much attention to the marginal community these years, it may have a history as long as human’s history itself. As the term “Greek love” implies, homosexuality might even be a common practice among ancient Greek. However, in some countries like Singapore, the practice of homosexuality is still a taboo, which is even forbidden by the law.
The recent chaos in the AWARE was also centered on the issue of homosexuality, which raised another round of fierce debate over whether homosexuality should be decriminalized. In my opinion, normal homosexuality should be decriminalized as long as they do not stir up too much trouble. Law, which functions as a treaty among all the citizens in a whole nation, should only maximize reasonable individual rights for everybody and keep the society ordered and free of chaos. Without evidence, we should not be arbitrary to conclude that homosexuality is wrong and would certainly lead to inconvenient consequences for the whole society. Moreover, law should not violate individual’s right to choose his/her companion only because of the gender as law would never ban a man from falling in love with a cat. The choice of companion should always remain personal and not judged by others.
However, some people may argue that we should ban homosexuality only because it is immoral. Though morality is rather subtle compared with the law, we have to admit that certain rituals and common practice in a society help keep the society united and stabilized. As soon as we violate it, uncomfortableness would be aroused among some people, which would result in unfavorable situation like conflicts. This reminds us that the process of decriminalization of homosexuality should not be carried out rashly. The changes of the law should be consistent with the changes of the morality. For example, people in China were very reserved before the reform and open policy. A scene of kissing would never appear on TV due to its “inappropriateness”. In the following decades, the morality in China has changed a lot which requires the law to update itself regularly. This is the same with the case of decriminalization of homosexuality. Since it is still a not-so-comfortable concept for some people, we should carry it out step by step.
In a nutshell, homosexuality should be decriminalized as it does not violate others’ rights and itself should be considered as normal human rights. However, in the process of decriminalization, we should be careful and not too rash.
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In the case of decriminalization, it should not be a gradual process. Either the particular section in Law is lifted or kept completely. As you agree that it is part of human rights choosing to be homosexual, is there a concern that by decriminalizing homosexual sex, there will be a negative impact on the society? If not, decriminalization should be done with immediate effect. Personally I don’t foresee an increase in population of homosexuals in Singapore after lifting the ban. The law exists since the colonial period and has not been strictly followed. It is not removed as a symbol that this is still a conservative Asian society, how effective it is in preventing homosexual sex is unknown.
ReplyDeleteI agree that as time changes, social values in a society may change. As a correction, kissing scenes were already available in the 1930s Shanghai movies. Due to certain reasons the ‘openness’ was constrained for decades till China re-opened up. There is a difference between guidelines, regulations and law. Whether kissing scenes are allowed on mass media is not written in law. It is regulated, censored by the authority as well as by reviewing the degree of comfortableness of the public. I also agree that the law should not violate individual’s right to choose his/her companion. However this should be restricted to human beings and adults with sound mind. More restrictions are needed depending on the basic values of the society. In traditional Chinese culture, homosexuality was not regarded as a sin, unlike other cultures which clearly states it sinful. The ‘sin’ for Chinese is having no children, in the past or present. Due to this social influence, a significant number of homosexuals in China end up in heterosexual marriage.
I enjoy reading books written by Kevin Tsai (Tsai Kang-yong), a famous TV host in Taiwan who has openly declared to be homosexual. Before that, I did have a negative impression on gays as I feel it ‘disgusting’. When reading his books, I started to realize that they are no different from us in many aspects. We should sometimes challenge our way of thinking by putting ourselves in others’ shoes. Not everyone is built to be the same. The degree of tolerance indicates the maturity of a society, as well as determining whether we criminalize a behavior or not.
I think you have raised the important issue of public acceptance which is a relevant consideration in the legislation process. However, another role of leadership, political or community, should be on the civic education of people in their tolerance and inclusion of minority groups without bringing in their prejudices and moral values. Therefore, if a law is considered to be unjust or infringing on personal rights, then it should be rectified, regardless of public reaction.
ReplyDeleteFinally, I think you have made several valid and convincing arguments for the decriminalising of homosexual sex.
Souk Yee