It is reported that recently the state Education Department of Terengganu had sent 66 schoolboys aged between 13 and 17 with "effeminate tendencies to a camp aimed at helping them behave in the proper manner."

According to the report, this camp in Besut is to help address the problem afflicting secondary schoolboys who display feminine qualities.

Simply put, the state Education Department suspects those teenage boys are gay, and thus wants to fix them by teaching them "masculine behaviour."

NONEThis news reminds me of an incident that happened almost five years ago.

When I came out to my younger sister in 2006 and told her; "I am gay," I saw her jaw literally drop and after almost 30 seconds, she finally gasped, "How could it be? You have a black belt in taekwondo!" I was flabbergasted at her response and she had my jaw drop in return.

What has sexual orientation anything to do with taekwondo? To her, and many people who are ignorant of human sexuality, a gay man must be a feminine man, or vice versa.

Since I have engaged in such a "masculine" sport since I was 12 and even obtained a black belt when I was 16, I just cannot be gay.

Martial arts and sexual orientation

I have no idea what the boot camp in Besut is going to teach those boys, but if they were gay, I can ensure you that taekwondo doesn't work, not even if they can make it to black belt!

Even though no scientific research has demonstrated that homosexuality is a form of mental illness and the American Psychiatric Association (APA) made the decision in 1973 to remove homosexuality from their list of mental disorder, many people, especially religious fundamentalists still stubbornly believe that homosexuality is objectively disordered and intrinsically evil.

Not only do they attack gay people vehemently by all means, they even do everything possible to design programs and create boot camps to "fix" gay people.

In the United States, they call their programs "conversion therapy," or "reparative therapy" and claim that by participating in such programs, gay people can be changed.

One of their methods is to teach gay people to say one syllable words when a word is one syllable. For instance, if you say "Yessssss" or "Yeahhhhhh" instead of a forceful "YES," that is very gay and you need to change it. By changing how to say the word, you can turn straight. What a joke!

NONEThe US-based Exodus International is an organisation that claims to help many gay people come out of homosexuality and become straight. But no credible scientific research has proven that people can change their sexual orientations.

As a matter of fact, the co-founders of Exodus, Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper (above), made an unexpected statement in 1979, saying that homosexuality could never be "cured."

They admitted that their previous "testimonies" were nothing but self-deceiving lies.

Masculine camouflaged gays outed

Following the announcement, they both withdrew from Exodus International and moved in together as a gay couple.

There is another so-called "ex-gay" in America by the name of John Paulk, who claimed to have become straight by some divine miracle.

Then one day, he was caught red-handed patronizing a gay bar. Confronted by the media, he described how he had gone in to use the toilet. According to witnesses' account, however, he remained in the bar for at least 40 minutes and flirted with other gay people there.

If he had not been recognized and photographed, he could have stayed even longer and enjoyed himself! Such a purported "change" sounds more like a joke, not to mention that it sounds more like a stupid one. Unfortunately, we have many more ex-ex-gays' stories.

Reparative therapy and boot camps to change gay people are just a joke, at best. These stupid jokes, however, have hurt many people, both literally and metaphorically. The ethical problems of so-called conversion therapy are well documented in many psychological and social-work journals.

Homosexuality has nothing wrong with it. Tomboyish girls and feminine boys are fine. It is bigotry and ignorance which is problematic. Please do not try to fix gay people, fix yourselves!

 

REV O YOUNG is an ordained Christian minister at MCC New York. He holds two masters degrees, in  sociology and theology. He lives in New York city and teaches sociology at St Peter’s College. He has published 20 books on sociology, theology and sexuality and is also a columnist for Sin Chew Daily. He is currently finishing his doctoral degrees in sociology and theology.