Singapore ex-gay movement

The takeover of AWARE in March 2009 and the subsequent media coverage revealed the close relationships of the key players behind the events. The Straits Times pointed out in an April 2009 article that six out of the nine newcomers attended the Church of Our Savior (COOS)

COOS has been well-known for its anti-homosexual stance. In 2001, it caused a stir when it put up a banner that read, “Homosexuals can change.” COOS also runs Choices, the ex-gay ministry that seeks to help homosexuals “change.”

In the ensuing debates that followed the takeover, one of the main reasons cited was that AWARE “seems to be only very interested in lesbianism and the advancement of homosexuality.”

COOS is the nexus of the pro-family, ex-gay and anti-gay movement. The Chairman of Focus of the Family, Tan Thuan Seng, is a member of COOS as well. This concentration of leadership within a single church suggests that there is a coordinated strategy involved.

The figures leading this crusade not only attend COOS, but are also related. Thio Su Mien, the self-identified “feminist mentor” of six of the members of the new executive committee of AWARE, is also the mother of Nominated Member of Parliament Thio Li-Ann, who was the champion against the decriminalization of homosexuality during the parliamentary debate to repeal Section 377A. Alan Chin, who wrote many letters to the press during that debate, is Thio Su Mien’s nephew. Josie Lau, the president of the new executive committee of AWARE is Alan Chin’s wife.

Angela Thiang, who reported to have said questions about the new office bearers’ religion and their stand on homosexuality were not relevant during AWARE’s annual general meeting is an employee in Thio Su Mien’s law firm and Thio Li-Ann supervised her undergraduate research paper “Pride and Prejudice: Law, Morality, and Homosexual Politics in Singapore.”

This “family affair” casts suspicions on the idea of the existence of a conservative moral majority and if it is actually a vocal minority that has mobilized its constituency effectively as demonstrated in the takeover of AWARE. Given COOS senior pastor Derek Hong’s earlier call for “a mobilization of Christians and concerned people to give immediate personal feedback to the government” April 2007 and the church’s admission that a church staff has sent out an email calling church members to vote at AWARE’s extraordinary general meeting on 2 May 200912 appears to be what is described as “astroturfing” – an attempt to create the impression of a grassroots movement of a large number of individuals for some specific cause while providing an effective smokescreen for the organization behind the mobilization and orchestration of the individuals. The church becomes a fertile ground to rally support especially when the issue is framed as the litmus test of one’s faith.

=See also=
 * Ex-gay movement

=References=

=Acknowledgements=

This article was written by Roy Tan.