Homophobia in Singapore

Ever since MM LKY spoke on the possibility of decriminalizing sodomy (Section 377a of Singapore Law), there has been an active but rather heated discussion on the Straits Times Forums. I feel a little sad how biggotted some of the responses against homosexuals were.

Then I thought back to when I was younger and asked myself what I would have felt about homosexuals back then. I'll be frank ... and somewhat ashamed to say that I would have thought all homosexuals to be the stereotypical effeminine deviants who go around harassing people.

I now know a fairly close friend (here in the US) who's gay. Hong Eng knows him too and I believe she finds him to be a very nice person, smart, capable and productive member of society. Oh, and guess what? I'm not his "type" hahaha! Even his very conservative parents have accepted his homosexuality and love him nonetheless. Our group of friends share in his joys and also his pain ... we felt really sad when he broke up with his boyfriend (who was also a very nice guy) which was really a pity.

I also know and am friends with several people who are lesbians. They have their own eccentricities, maybe more so than normal, but don't we all? For most part, they are very normal people leading mostly normal lives with normal emotions and normal social interactions. I think the problem with many of those people involved in the "debate" have never actually encountered homosexuals, got to know them or have been friends with them.

I'm actually fairly curious what Teck Beng (or any of my other friends back home) thinks of this?