Rilek1Corner

Tag: Pink Dot

  • You Can Support LGBT Friends But Wearing Hijab And Participating In Pink Dot Is Not Cool

    You Can Support LGBT Friends But Wearing Hijab And Participating In Pink Dot Is Not Cool

    So I recently chanced upon a photo of two hijab women at a Pinkdot event. People wanna be confrontational about things these days, that’s why they have PinkDot. Let me be confrontational about it too.

    Go to Pink Dot all you want. But with a hijab over your head, know that you have a religious+social+moral responsibility. Of course they will love it – who says outward Muslims can’t be supportive of LGBT right?

    The way Islam views LGBT is with respect, I feel. We see it as a test and recognise it as an inner struggle that God wills to give to some people. We are to respect people who disagree. We are to agree to disagree. But to paint a false picture of our principles and beliefs is wrong. We respectfully disagree with LGBT and we don’t need anybody going around conflicting it. We don’t need the impression and confusion that non-Muslims might get from seeing the photo. We don’t have a strong enough reason to drop by the event to show some love when clearly the motive of the campaign is to support LGBT.

    There is a reason why when we sin, our duty is to not reveal our sins. In fact it is God’s form of mercy when He does not reveal our sins – so why reveal it ourselves? It is another sin on top of another to reveal your sins to others. Thus what they did, if they were actually gay, is to reveal themselves. Similar concept with how wrong it is to openly eat in public during the fasting month.

    Now I wish people would respect my religion as much as we are to respect the existence of their campaign and all. Gay or not, I hope the sisters are given hidayah.

    Ps. I still love my gay friends but like I said, I am firm on agreeing to disagree.

     

    Source: Nasyiba Sahari

  • Alfian Sa’at: Why I Don’t Attend Pink Dot

    Alfian Sa’at: Why I Don’t Attend Pink Dot

    Growing older, I find that my introverted nature is becoming more pronounced. One of the reasons why I decided not to go for Pink Dot this year is because I’m beginning to get more terrified of crowds. There’s always a moment when I’m surrounded by too many people when I start feeling dizzy and nauseous.

    And then there’s the issue of my nervousness around dogs. I know Pink Dot is an opportunity for some people to bring their pets along, pets which are as dear to them as family. But dogs–when there’s more than one, or two–have always put me on edge. This is not a problem of the dog-owners roaming the park but my problem alone. (And this is the learned mantra of any minority.)

    This isn’t supposed to be an indictment of Pink Dot’s agenda of inclusivity. I think every year the organisers attempt to provide an atmosphere as hospitable to as many as possible–sign language interpretation, differently-abled access, seating for seniors. But any embrace will come up short at some point because an arm span is finite.

    The space at Pink Dot is also inhospitable for others–those who fear crowds, or fear dogs, those without a pink or blue IC. It makes me think about the limits of inclusivity, the dangers of fantasising about utopian spaces, or spaces that aspire to speak for the entire community.

    In that anxiety to pack in bodies at the event, so as to create an optics of the local-indigenous, is bodily participation privileged over other forms of support? Be there or be square, be there or betray?

    While I support what Pink Dot stands for (and many of its organisers and ambassadors and volunteers are wonderful, tireless people whose activist work extends beyond Pink Dot), I can’t stand to form that dot. Neither can I stand any kind of guilt tripping over one’s absence there, as if fidelity to the cause must translate into piety towards Pink Dot.

    Ultimately I think of Pink Dot, no matter its organisational capacity, as part of something larger–and not as some large reservoir where other tributaries (no matter how many booths, how many representatives) are supposed to converge.

     

    Source: Alfian Sa’at

  • Hue And Cry Over Pink Dot Event Shows Discrimination Exists

    Hue And Cry Over Pink Dot Event Shows Discrimination Exists

    The letter writer Ho Lay Ping (“Don’t equate difference in opinion with discrimination”, June 20) said that because the Pink Dot event is allowed to continue, it shows that “discrimination does not exist”.

    A minority community which faces no discrimination would not spark calls to have its event advertising material reported to the police on the basis of it being “divisive and polarising”.

    The general tone of Facebook groups such as “We are against Pinkdot in Singapore” also makes the writer’s claim of tolerance and lack of discrimination nothing short of disingenuous.

    Her comments that our government ministers may have religious affiliations and “that the majority of Singaporeans follow a religion” hint at laying out who has the authority of being the moral majority to steer our society.

    Our pluralistic society comprises multiple ethnicities, creeds and religions, and protecting our lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) minority community is not that great a stretch.

    It is unhelpful to society if our reaction to something we find discomforting is to make police reports instead of having a reasonable and adult conversation.

    We can be better than this.

     

    Source: www.todayonline.com

  • Why Is The Malay Mainstream Media Keeping Mum About Pink Dot?

    Why Is The Malay Mainstream Media Keeping Mum About Pink Dot?

    With the Pink Dot happening tomorrow, the Malay mainstream media is still not reporting anything on it. Silence on the issue does not translate to the Malay community being disinterested in the issue of homosexuality. Are there no homosexuals in the Malay community? The issue, at the minimum, has to be discussed in the public sphere so that our community can guide these homosexual individuals to the right path.

    Yes, you may argue that some scientific research found that homosexuals are born with it, and it is not a matter of choice, and even so, that leaves us a room to participate in discussions on how best to help these homosexual individuals. By keeping quiet, we are not doing enough to help our fellow Malay community members who are homosexuals. The Malay mainstream media has to get the discussion going to get a sensing on how the Malay community feels about the whole issue. Let’s not deny the very existence of homosexuals in our community by keeping quiet.

    Some individuals from the Malay community have written to Rilek1Corner to express their disappointment and are upset that Pink Dot is happening yet again this year, and that they are having a hard time explaining to their  children about the whole homosexuality issue and what Pink Dot aims to achieve out of the yearly Pink picnic. They are concerned that their children may somehow be influenced by such unIslamic lifestyle. It is about time that as a community, we should start the discussion going. As a voice of the community, the Malay mainstream media should get the ball rolling by initiating discussions on homosexuality.

     

    Rilek1Corner

  • The LGBT Debate: What Really Is The Crux Of The Issue?

    The LGBT Debate: What Really Is The Crux Of The Issue?

    Dear A.S.S. Editor

    I know what the response to this contribution will be like. But nonetheless this is one issue I have no regrets standing my ground on.

    Over the past few days we have witnessed an intense debate over Cathay Cineleisure’s decision to put up posters promoting Pink Dot. But that is not the biggest crux of the issue. The biggest crux is what is the fight for and about. I have shared my position. Those who have agreed with mine have shared ours. But the most important question is what is the crux of the matter.

    Is the fight about the “freedom to love”? I don’t think so. If it is truly about love, then how can you on the “freedom to love” movement subject others to the other side of the aisle the most unlovable form of response? Let’s face the hard truth, a good tree bears good fruits and your fruits give you away. If it is truly about love there is no need to bring up the religious beliefs or association of one for attack and vigilante treatment just because of disagreement in worldview as a matter of first response. The fact that one’s religious beliefs were singled out when for that matter it wasn’t used in the debate shows that the real problem is not about the freedom to love. It lies elsewhere. Case in point. Why was there the need to bring up the chairman of ASAS’s religion and church when the ASAS did not even call for Pink Dot’s publicity ad to be taken down completely but rather for its subtitle “freedom to love” to be amended? And also factoring in that the call was made according to the book and not based on some hastily inserted clause or rule?

    I think let’s be honest about this.

    On my earlier case of kleptomania and homosexuality. We don’t legitimise kleptomania because it goes against the natural order of things. And that’s my case with homosexuality too. For if homosexuality is indeed what we were made for and the natural order of things all marital relationships would naturally gravitate towards homosexual ones and the heterosexuals will be the ones clamouring for the “right to love”.

    We already have a “right to love”. That is why adultery is not criminalised in Singapore and neither is prostitution nor pre-marital sex. And we already know what the social and health related consequences are and if you want to push the line back further my advice is to calculate the cost first, not only for us but for our children. And if you want to flame me for this article, watch the flame burn and decide for yourselves if the question is about the freedom to love, or the real question lies elsewhere.

    N Chan

    A.S.S. Contributor

    Source: www.allsingaporestuff.com