"I'm so sorry to be so late in my understanding... Today, I'm an out of the closet Christian that supports homosexuality... I pray and hope you would somehow read about my apology letter to you and give me another chance as a friend," writes a Christian woman – originally from Singapore – to her long-lost gay friend whom she had rejected 12 years ago.
Not only does the body include two members who are firmly opposed to anti-discrimination legisation for LGBTs, much of its second meeting was dominated by Christian groups who told the panel that same-sex relationships are a sin and that they would be deprived of their right to discriminate should any anti-discrimination legislation be enacted. Nigel Collett reports.
The Hong Kong government is said to have conducted its own surveys in 2012, which found that a majority of respondents support having a law against discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, though the results of the survey remain a secret. Fridae's Hong Kong correspondent Nigel Collett outlines what's stopping the government from implementing anti-discrimination laws to protect LGBTs.
A second pastor, who appealed to his church members to support another church in its call to lobby the government to retain a law which criminalises sex between men, has deleted references to the issue from his statement.
The idea that "the family unit comprises of a man as Father, a woman as Mother, and Children" is not biblical, writes Rev Miak Siew, executive pastor of Singapore's Free Community Church and member of gay advocacy group People Like Us. Here he responds to a Singapore pastor's recent comments that the acceptance of gays would pose a "looming threat" to the family unit.
A pastor of a megachurch in Singapore has called on his congregation – with a visiting former Prime Minister in the audience – to lobby the government to retain a colonial-era law which criminalises sex between men.
Over 300 representatives from LGBTQ-friendly churches, ministries and fellowships from 10 Asia-Pacific regions including Singapore, Taiwan, and China gathered in Hong Kong last month for a landmark meeting. Raymond Ko reports.
Rev. Steve Parelli and Jose Ortiz, a gay married couple, will be in Singapore on 14 August to share their personal journey of reconciling their Christian faith and sexual orientation, and discuss the false claims of the ex-gay movement.
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