Gay Issues

Professor Howard Gardner framed the Multiple Intelligences study. Many years later, he had to publicly dissociate his name from a number of organisations which had mis-used this study to the detriment of his good reputation.

So it is with the study on any policy matter. After soliciting feedback and sitting in on one paltry meeting with the proposer, formulators hardly invites the proposer to oversee the refinement and implementation. Otherwise, the spirit and intent may be screwed, lost in a sea of misreading and mis-interpretation.

The point is, the founder has to be the overseer in certain ways. The vision and the mission are usually that of the pioneering spirit.

The framing of the question and asking all the right ones are at the heart of any issue. Have you ever been fielded a question you know has no pertinence whatsoever to what is being pursued? Or the question has been angled wrongly?

Gay rights is apparently a huge hoo-ha now in the States, vacillating between being legislated and then shot down. In California, the state has legally conferred equal marriage rights between gay couples and straight ones. This has seen a flux of gay couples seeking licenses to marry.

In Singapore, I do not forsee this happening anytime soon. If it does happen, I will question if it is a state function to legislate and sanction gay marriages. Can this not be a private mutual arrangement between consenting parties contracting with their own lawyers and "legally" appointed presiding marriage solemnisers on exchanging marriage vows, estate distribution and custody of children without the full glare of the public eye.

However I can see the contention when the estate involves assets like the Housing Board flat or the Central Provident Fund. This is one issue that has to be thought through and resolved if it can be by the intervention of legal eagles. Can a private will then supersede all else?

I can see why gay couples are anxious for state legislation. They want to publicly declare their love for each other and exchange nuptial ties with pomp and ceremony. All these legally conferred and sanctioned in the eyes of the state.

For me, I would have the same ceremony, albeit in a private capacity in the comfort of home or a private santuary but with all the attendant legalisation and solemnisation of the marriage.

If it must be a state function, as is characteristic of many of our national state boards dealing with energy, telecommunication and the press, the responsibilities have usually devolved to privatised public entities (excuse the oxymoron much like the oxymoron for Creationist Science).

If the fear persists of the state recognising such an "unholy" marriage, there does not have to be any publicity given to its legally functioning presence or status. Those within the community with the vested interest to know will know. The general public does not have to know.

It is like we have a private school section within the Ministry of Education. 99% of the people would not know of its existence. Only the businesses needing to obtain operating licences from the department would. The general public will only know the private schools as being tied to the Ministry of Education and nothing else.

Speaking of which, I am still pissed with not being able to register my private school as a private academic one as I am told there is a history to the existing ones. That means I am not entitled to step into this historical boundary but if I cannot understand the history unless it is explained to me, I cannot accept the refutation. Just as I was able to pin down the cause of the Arab-Israeli conflict once I saw its history.

If I were to announce that there are gay spas here, chances are nobody knows. I have had the pleasure of telling a friend who in his 21 years of indigenous living does not know of the existence of gay spas. What you do not know won't hurt you. You do not need to know and even if you do, you are none the wiser.

It is a non-issue. Everything carries on as usual. Nobody will even notice the spas in their midst. Life goes on.

As a last word on updates and corrections, I will leave this to you the blog reader to have the good sense to judge where they are and to make the necessary changes.