We are in this… Together

After reading Thio Su Mien’s article on TODAY, i experienced a waterfall of emotions.

I was aghasted at how people can manipulate research and present it according to their agenda. Without consideration of what the general field is saying. To lie when they have to. To speculate and put forth their conjectures as ultimate truth.

I realized also… that TODAY does not check the veracity of her statements. And how can i blame them? They are not psychologists. And the rest of the world is as ignorant of the discipline.

I grieved for the general public. For the majority, they exchange a few coins for the papers. Many of them believe the information they receive wholeheartedly. There is a stereotype that if you know what’s happening in the news, you are “educated” and therefore “higher-class” so to speak. And so they devour the news vociferously. If only they know the forces behind publication. That the news they have in their hands are published, and sometimes exaggerated, if it serves, or is non-threatening, to government interest. And much information that seems to undermine their ideal society is witheld. No matter how scientific, how rooted in empirical evidence it is.

In the midst of all these… i was somewhat overwhelmed. Anti-gay activists are supported by the government. I believe that anyone can have their own opinion. But facts are facts- they are either there or they are not; they cannot be changed.

But… so what if facts are facts? Facts can be twisted; people can lie… as i saw all too well in the Thio Su Mien’s article. It seems such an impossible task! It was rather discouraging… and i was at the moment… grieved and resigned…

Then all of a sudden, it struck me… I AM NOT IN THIS ALONE.

All my fellow queer brothers, sisters and those in between… who are all over the world… who are fighting for rights. Who are fighting against stereotypes by their mere existence… we are all in it together. And we are indeed making progress!

Yes, they can try all ways and means to twist facts… to brainwash the public with half-truths… to stir up public fears with lies… to encourage unjustifiable stereotypes.

But… even if they kill me today, there are some things they cannot do…:

They cannot stop me from having loved my mother, my father, my sister and my good friends.
They cannot stop me from having been kind to animals, having empathy for the marginalized, reaching out in love to those who need it.
They cannot take away the education in me- the critical thinking that professors have instilled in me all these years; the knowledge that i was given; the willingness to explore out of the box, to question status quo.
They cannot stop me from having had my ambitions of further improvement for myself, for my family, for society.
They cannot take away this essence of me… that defines me as a person.

By my everyday living, i am refuting the theories that these anti-gay activists are making futile attempts to reinforce. People around me who interact with me knows me… this is the real me. I am not some artifact of the negative gay stereotype. I am a human-being who lives in your normal everyday, who face the same daily events that any other person does. And people talk… information is passed on like the ripple effect.

Things are in progress. As individuals, let’s not lose heart. We are in this together.