Time to close this chapter

After Chua Mui Hoong’s commentary in ST today, there are no doubts as to the official government take on the current standoff between the old and new guards of Aware: Singapore is a secular, multi-religious, multi-racial country; there  is no room for religious interference in the public sphere.  Should we we rejoicing?  Well, that’s not the point, is it?

As a transsexual youth growing up in Singapore, my first encounter with the Anglican Church of our Saviour was when Leslie Lung from the church was invited by my parents to counsel me against my “chosen” path.  Leslie shared that he was an ex-transsexual and even had boyfriends and men proposing to him.  One day, like Sinclair Rogers, also an ex-transsexual and then pastor* with the church, he was touched by the Lord and decided to abandon his plans for a sex change operation.  Since then, he has been ministering to transsexual individuals to heal them of their “sexual brokenness”.  I believe he also gives talks in schools on the same topic.  If I’m not wrong – and I stand to be corrected on this – Leslie currently identifies as a eunuch and still has feelings for men, but does not act on these feelings as they are against the will of God. 

I respect Leslie’s choices as an individual and if transsexual youth choose to be counselled and “sexually healed” by Church of our Saviour, I respect their decision as individuals.  At the same time, I hope that youth are also given two sides of the story when social groups decide to educate on transsexualism in schools.  Youth cannot be educated on the “evils” of transsexualism without being made aware of the existence of highly successful transsexual women like Professor Lynn Conway and Dr Marcie Bowers.  Internationally, ”gender dysphoria” or transsexualism/transgenderism is also recognised as a legitimate medical concern for which gender reassignment surgery ensures an improvement in quality of life for some transsexuals. 

You may not approve of transsexualism, but surely to present a one-sided non-scientific view of a legitimate medical condition to our youth is tantamount to religious indoctrination, which has no place in a secular, multi-religious and multi-racial society like Singapore?  I call on all education institutions to select your sexual education providers carefully as your choices will have an impact on the lives of impressionable youth.  From time to time I receive emails from young transsexuals who are on the verge of suicide because they are rejected by everyone they know – and the only people who are allowed to help them tell them their feelings are sinful and unnatural.  Their well-intentioned teachers dare not say otherwise because to do so would be to go against the school’s official stance.

Transsexualism is not a lifestyle – it is a state of being.  Instead of throwing stones in the young transsexual’s path, let us give genuine, unbiased help when help is asked for.  Whenever a young transsexual writes to me, I never prod them towards the sex change operation.  I always inform them that post-surgical life may not necessarily bring the happiness they dream of.  Instead, they should be prepared to face even more discrmination and heart aches. 

This brings to mind the advice of my psychiatrist Dr Pamela Chan when I was being counselled by her after a suicide attempt.  She said (or words to the effect): “I’m not going to tell you what to do.  But I have an obligation to tell you that the road ahead will not be easy.” 

I would like to appeal to religious groups and schools in Singapore to stop traumatising our youth with fire-and-brimstone moralising.  Instead, let them make an informed decision after giving them the bare facts.  After all, isn’t this what “education” is all about? 

* I stand to be corrected on this.

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