Starting from about the 25th minute of the program:
Voice-over:
"And for those confused about their sexuality [1], the dilemma is even greater.
'Damien' is 17 years old and he's been leading a double life since that first
crush on a male classmate when he was 14. That this is an age of sexual
discovery cannot be overstated."
'Damien', 17, seen
silhouetted, face not identifiable:
"I have unprotected sex and I have protected sex, depends…it depends when
I go out, I mean, I don't cruise people, but people do cruise me at times … so
those are mainly unprotected sex of course, but there's also another way to find
something to have a one night stand …."
The program then shows (for a few seconds) an
internet web page: the subpage from the People Like Us site, entitled "Singapore
gay men's personal homepages", showing clearly the listing, including
the URLs of Miak's page, Dominic Studio, and Homoboys.
Voice-over:
"Homosexuality -- something that's even more hush-hush for many teenagers.
And again, the information gap is being bridged by the net. The Singapore
Planned Parenthood Association, SPPA, is one of a handful of organisations that
counsel teenagers unsure of their sexuality. Based on 1998 figures, 23% of calls
enquired after sexual orientation."
John Vijayan Vasavan,
President, SPPA:
"Our stand is young people can have a liking for their own gender, or sex.
That doesn't necessarily mean that they are homosexuals. And our advice to young
people would be they have to explore themselves, find out themselves what they
are. One of our strategies would be to say delay and um… explore yourself
more, not just be there and you know, the very first indication, say that, oh,
I'm a gay or I'm a lesbian."
Voice-over:
"In the schools,
homosexuality is a topic that is seldom raised and often little
understood."
Victor
Wong, 16, St Joseph's Institution:
"Homosexuality -- such an issue [is] a very personal and private thing, so
most of the … I think that most of the guys won't discuss this among
themselves."
Nigel Na, 14, St
Joseph's Institution:
"In an all-boy's school, there's a kind of pressure to be a man, so …
even if, like ,,, even if, say, Prakash [Nigel indicates his colleague seated
next to him] has a crush on me …[Prakash and other boys around Nigel laugh
loudly] … I don't think… He will go to great pains to hide it because of…
because he knows that if he shows any signs of being homosexual, all his friends
will tease him to no end lah, but… I mean, it's kind of bad. Homosexuals are
still people, they still have feelings."
Brother Michael
Broughton, Deputy Principal, St Joseph's Institution:
"As part of education, we try to tell our boys not to prejudge people. Do
you know, a boy would think that every person who is effeminate is a homosexual,
you know, so they think that if a guy is ah kua, he is already a homosexual, you
know, then got to tell them that not all ah kuas are homosexual, you know, that
your homosexual friend could be the one in the rugby team, your rugby captain
could be a homosexual, and you do not know … so you've got to prepare and open
their minds to consider, but er …. but as a major issue, it's not a problem,
but for the boys who have such a sexual orientation, it's always a problem,
because they are always a minority group, and you got to salvage them from
self-loathing or self-hate …. non-acceptance of themselves, of who they
are."
Voice-over:
"Damien was not as fortunate, as he had no one to turn to in search for
sexual identity."
'Damien', silhouetted:
"I came from a mixed school, you see, I can't possibly go to talk to any of
my teachers and friends because, like, most of them are like totally straight,
and I think they will be totally turned off by you and freak out if you ever
talk to them about all this stuff. It would be best if they can actually be open
to a wider scope of picture, the whole picture, objectively, what it is all
about. So they really know what they are actually looking for."
Voice-over:
"Be it the search for sexual identity or the simple need to deal with the
opposite sex and have those pressing questions answered, it's clear that
guidance from an adult is a necessary and precious aid."
Dr Lim Su Min,
obstetrician and gynaecologist:
"The place for
family life education is in the home, it's not necessarily a school curriculum
subject, which you go an get exams and get 3 A's and whatever. But until we have
a platform, a program in the school to provide sex education, so that the young
children who grow up becomes sex educators of their children when they are
parents, until we get that into the system, we would not be able to have the
homes as the place for family life education."
* * *
White text on black screen:
'Damien' has
voluntarily sought counselling from the SPPA. He is trying to sort out his
feelings for a girl who's expressed affections for him. 
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| Foreword by Yawning Bread
This is the
transcript of the last 5 minutes of the program Special Assignment:
Sex Education, produced by Channel News Asia, and aired on 27 August
1999.
The article CNA
special assignment, part 1 discusses this 30-minute TV program, while
CNA special assignment, part 2 is a commentary on the 5-minute homosexuality segment.
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