Otto Fong

I'm sure it's not breaking news to say that Otto Fong, a Singaporean teacher, has removed his coming out letter in his personal blog out of government pressure. All that can be read presently in his blog is a small letter of Thanks (with a lot of supporting comments). However, The Online Citizen is currently hosting a copy of the deleted coming out post along with its comments.

Probably the coming out letter wouldn't have got worldwide attention if there had been no pressure on Mr. Fong, so this is another case where homophobia manages to miss its target. And what a target, because the post is one of the most beautiful texts one can reads. Just a brief sample, if you want to read it complete, please visit The Online Citizen.

Returning to Singapore, I came out to my family. My father, mother, brother and sister, out of love for their son and brother, walked the long road to acceptance. It was not easy for them, but they loved me before I came out, and they love me after. When I finally settled down with my longtime companion (we have been together for more than nine years), my entire family made sure my nieces and nephews included us in their lives. I loved my family too much to keep them in the dark, to deny them the chance to really know me. And they loved me too much to let some old prejudice tear our family apart [...]

Do you know what a bonsai tree is? A bonsai tree is an imitation of a real tree. It is kept in a small pot with limited nutrients, trimmed constantly to fit someone else’s whim. It looks like a real tree, except it can’t do many things a real tree can. It cannot provide shelter, it cannot find food on its own; its life and death are totally reliant on its owner. It is the plant version of the 3-inch Chinese bound foot for women: useless and painful.

Being in the closet, pretending to be straight, trimming our true selves to suit the whims and expectations of others, is just like being a human bonsai tree. By staying in the closet, we cannot even hope to be average, much less above and beyond average [...]

And on the same issue, Jireh Tan explains Why Singapore needs more Otto Fongs.

Technorati tags: Otto Fong, Singapore, Coming out, Homophobia

Mixed bag - Around the world newslinks.

Today's review of what's been happening in the world of GLBT issues must start with a favorite of mine: Michael Moore, who, in an interview with The Advocate, dropped the idea of his next documentary could deal with the issue of homophobia and the anti-gay movement. The way Moore puts things on the screen, I'm already drooling on the possbie results. And you don't miss his Sicko movie, it's demolishing - of course if you're not George W. Bush. In the meantime, some leaders of anti-gay programs (I'll be writing on such things next week for those of you who are not familiar with that thing) apologized to GLBT people by late June, while asking other leaders to do the same. Still in the US of A, homosexuals in the military will receive Ron Paul's statement of rejecting the Don't Ask Don't Tell rule if elected president. It's a long way for Paul to arrive to the White House, but recent studies say that the argument for Unit cohesion is futile, as servicepeople from Ft. Bragg, NC speak in a The Fayetteville Observer article.

Leaving the USA we find that Swedes may soon welcome the whole ecclesial apparatus of marriage with organ, religious chants and whatever it takes, while the Vatican and the Orthodox church strenghten their position (sadly, not unique) on anti-gay grounds. Catholic Ireland will guarantee full equality for same sex couples (though not marriage), while a lesbian couple is taking court action against Gibraltar government, and in Zagreb, Croatia, one man has been charged with a hate crime after the attacks on a Pride march.

In Africa, Nigerian archbishop Akinola's anti-gay rhetoric is analysed in an article on The Advocate, and the rest of the world witness how Singapore forum on decriminalization of homosexual acts is attended by hundreds, while Hong Kong rejects a gay sodomy ban, Australian government is considering the increase in rights for homosexuals, Lebanese homosexual youth is flourishing again in Beirut, and in Jamaica three dancehall musicians made public their signature of some sort of deal called Reggae Compassionate Act by which they compromise to not include gay bashing, homophobic and hate-crime sparkling lyrics in their songs. Sam could write a full essay on the issue, let's hope he'll have time to do so. The worst part of news is that Iran may keep executing more gay people, and in Nepal, four transgendered young people have been beaten by police officers in Katmandu, allegedly for carrying condoms for their own use.