July 2003

Do Singaporeans approve of gay marriage?

    

  

 
As any propagandist knows, repeat a lie often enough and people will think it’s the truth.

A common spin is this: Singapore is a conservative society. 

My dear friend Russell Heng is always riled by this statement. "Who says that?" is his usual riposte. "What’s the basis for saying that?"

Below is an article in the afternoon tabloid The New Paper. Look how it spins the conclusion when its own facts call for something else!

 

The New Paper on Sunday
6 July 2003

Firm 'no' to gay marriages: Poll

Reports/ Aaron Low & Marcel Lee Pereira

Is Singapore ready to legalise gay marriage? No, said most of the 60 people The New Paper spoke to. While many felt it was a personal choice, most were also sure that conservative Singapore will not formally accept homosexual relationships. (See results in the box) 

Street Sentiment:

Do you think Singapore is ready for gay marriages to be made legal here?

     NO: 55      YES: 5

Do you approve of gay marriages?

     NO: 29      YES: 31

(Sixty people were polled for the two questions)

Said Mr James Wang, 55, a businessman: "They were born that way and they have to have a right to their own life. But I don't think Singapore is ready for gay marriages yet. It is still a conservative society."

There were concerns about gay couples getting to adopt children too. Miss Pearl Mia, 20, a student, summed it up this way: "Marriage and love is one thing, and the consequences are another. If they adopt kids, how would the kids feel and think? And how would society view them?"

Miss Jennifer Seow, 22, a customer services officer: "Society is not ready to accept this"

Those polled were divided almost equally over gays going overseas to get hitched, though almost half were not comfortable with the idea of gay marriage at all. Many believed that being gay was "unnatural".

When told that Canada is the latest of three western countries to legally approve of gay marriage, security officer Mohamed Jamal, 41, exclaimed: "I think they are insane. Crazy. Not human."

He added: "It's ridiculous! What is the world coming to when guys like guys and girls like girls?"

Agreeing, Madam Fanny Yeo, 56, a teacher, said: "God created us in a certain way. Being gay is like perversion of the natural order."

However, others felt that if there was love between two people, even of the same sex, they should be free to get married.

The Singaporean trait of minding one's own business was also reflected in the opinions on gay marriage. A 49-year-old technician, who gave his name only as Steve, was comfortable with gay marriage as long as they "do not disturb us".

 

I wrote a letter to the New Paper:  

Dear Editor,

I refer to your article "Firm ‘no’ to gay marriages" in the Sunday New Paper, 6 July 2003. This is a very misleading headline, because the poll figures in your own report say quite the opposite.

31 out of 60 respondents in your poll answered "yes" to the question of whether they approved of gay marriages. That’s about 50%.

It’s only in the secondary question of whether they thought other Singaporeans would accept such an idea that the overwhelming majority of your respondents said they did not.

This doesn’t show they disapprove. It only shows that they think that others disapprove. It shows how the government’s oft-repeated line, "Singapore is a conservative society" has seeped into people’s consciousness, not the reality of the average Singaporean’s tolerance and liberalism.

I am heartened that many Singaporeans are still able to hold fair-minded and independent opinions despite the conformist pressures all around.

The letter was not published.

© Yawning Bread 

 

Footnotes

None

Addenda

None