Emmanuel Joseph firmly believes that Klang is the best place on earth, and that a motivated people can do far more good than any leaders with motive. Regular contributor to Malaysian Insight

A FORUM was recently held in KL discussing the topic of LGBT. There was no representation from any of the sexual or gender orientation represented by any of the four alphabets present at that forum. Instead, it was mostly a group of people who disagree with LGBT rights, talking about their point of view to a crowd of people who probably felt the same way.

The forum was entitled “LGBT: A Chronic Cancer in Malaysia”. The choice of title is an interesting one. “Cancer” when used in this context, would usually spell certain doom and gloom, and a real adverse effect in society.

However, can someone’s sexual choices or gender expression really affect things like national identity or encroach upon sanctity of religion or social fabric? And can LGBT really be broadly termed as a movement or agenda in an “us versus them” kind of way?

This forum is just the latest in a string of talks, discussions, newspaper opinion pieces and books discussing the “LGBT problem”. But why are they seen as a problem in the first place?

First of all, as far as can be seen, there is no movement to ‘spread’ or convert people into becoming gays or lesbians or transgendered people in Malaysia. Rather the opposite, instead of an ‘offensive’ movement, most groups that look into LGBT issues would mostly be concerned with ‘defensive’ concerns – the creation of safe spaces, counselling (sometimes for abuse victims), sexual health and so on. The way some people paint it, though, is as though there is a hidden plot financed by a shadowy movement to convert half of Malaysia and proceed to host a gay parade in the middle of the Federal Highway. Read more via Malaysian Insight