Rachel's Entry on Homosexuality:Blessing or Curse

Homosexuality refers to sexual behaviour or attraction between people of the same sex, or to a sexual orientation. Singaporeans, with their fast-paced lifestyle to uphold its cosmopolitan reputation, have neglected the issues and problems posed by homosexuals. Before we say whether homosexuality is a blessing or a curse, we should consider how it will affect people's way of life and cognitive impression. In a country like Singapore, we might be modern but there is still a majority of us who are traditional in our beliefs and heritage, and might feel uneasy when discussing the subject of homosexuality. It largely remains a taboo topic in many Singaporean households and parents do not encourage their sons or daughters to be associated or accept homosexuality. Hence it brings us to our topic of whether homosexuality is really a blessing or a curse in this modern era.

The present open attitude towards homosexuality may be a blessing to people who have problems dealing with their sexual preferences. Now they are able to come 'out of the closet' and confess their sexual preferences and tendencies towards their own gender. It 'permits' these people to come forward and be honest towards everyone, including their family, friends and the public. It does not directly affect the population as a whole and might even be accepted into our society in the future as it will not pose any adverse effects towards the general public.

Moreover, being homosexual would not necessarily mean that the person should be shunned or treated any differently. In addition, we might have friends or relatives who are homosexuals but we would not be able to find out about it as they might be afraid of all the negative publicity they might face if they ever admitted their sexual preferences. Therefore, you can consider the acceptance of homosexuality as a blessing in this case as it provides a platform for homosexuals out there to stand up bravely and admit that that they are homosexuals.

Another way that homosexuality might prove to be beneficial and a blessing in disguise would be that family and friends can rally around these homosexuals and actually improve family relations and foster social cohesion and family bonding. Some would argue that families might become estranged with their daughters or sons because they simply can't accept the fact that they are homosexuals. However, the saying that "Blood is thicker than water" is put to the test. Trust becomes an important key in this case as it depends fully on whether these parents can accept their kids for who they really are. Most of the time, parents would rally and suppport their children's decisions as it concerns their happiness and might determine the outcome of the relatiomship between parent and child. Therefore, most parents are more forthcoming nowadays and will encourage their children to pursue thier happiness and find their better half no matter what consequences they might have to face in the near future. Through such an incident, it might help to improve relations among family members and also reinforce the bond that both parents and children share together.

It might prove to be a blessing as it also helps to alert the public of the rising trend of homosexuals and educate them on how to embrace these homosexuals into our society. For example, the penal code 377A is getting a lot of attention and publicity. It has made the general public sit up and notice that there is such a law and that homosexuals are suffering in silence because of the general public's selfshness and shallow mindset that homosexuality should not be tolerated and should be forbidden.

However, recently much media attention was given to this topic as a result of some artists in Singapore speaking out for these homosexuals ... asking for homosexuals to be given their well deserved rights. As expected, it has sparked some controversy among many Singaporeans and the government. Some people question how Singapore is going to advance and catch up with our American counterparts if we do not even have an open mindset and accept homosexuality as a way of life in our society.

However, there are always people who reject the idea of homosexuality as it might tarnish Singapore's squeaky clean reputation and righteous government policies. As such, there is much stimulating debate about homosexuality being accepted into society as the government has to cater to the majority of the general public in Singapore.

This might prove to be a double-edged sword as people might view this issue with different perspectives, hence it might prove to be both a blessing and curse after all.

Even now in Singapore, when people mention homosexuality or breathe the word homosexuals, they would cringe or be in for a backlash. This is how the majority of Singaporeans react when posed with such an issue even though they say they are all out for Singapore to become more modern and open minded. This is such an ironic statement as it shows us how shallow people's mindsets are. It is even worse when you tell your family about it. They would just brush it aside and think that you are insane to ever harbour such thoughts.

Furthermore, the general public has not been educated on the subject as we remain a very conservative society and country, therefore this issue will be met with more criticisms than acceptance from the general public because they are not ready to accept the fact that common gender can love each other and build a home together. Hence, there would definitely be discrimination for homosexuals regardless of their gender as the public is not ready to take that big leap forward to break the traditional rules that have been put in place so many thousand years ago. Therefore, homosexuality might prove to be a curse in such aspects.

When faced with such a situation, there would be legal and social impacts that will affect the public. For example, the penal code might be there for a reason and for now, homosexuality is more of a hindrance than a curse as it is now illegal to allow homosexuality in Singapore. Another impact that will affect the society would be the erosion of social ethics and moral values as there is confusion and no order if this law was ever changed.

It might also lead to an increase in the number of people affected with Sexual Transmitted Diseases (STD) and this will affect the population as a whole. Another way it may pose as a negative social impact would be the fact that acceptance might not be widely received by the public. Therefore, to prevent such a situation from happening, the government needs to take steps to educate the public and the younger generation to help them come to terms with this issue. Therefore, there would be problems that the government will have to overcome first before they make homosexuality legal in Singapore.

To conclude, I believe that Singapore is taking many baby steps to becoming more modern and open. Therefore, I sincerely believe that homosexuality is just another way of life that people will have to embrace eventually and might turn out to be a blessing as it will open the floodgates to making Singaporeans more open-minded and liberal in the future. Therefore, I believe that in time to come, Singaporeans will come to terms with this situation and just accept it as another way of living. So, do you believe that Singaporeans will be able to make it happen?