In memoriam: Anthony Yeo (1949-2009)

Source

22 Jul 2009

by C. S. Zhou

A memorial service will be held this Friday, Jul 24, to celebrate the life of Anthony Yeo, and to honour his contributions and support of the GLBTQ community. C. S. Zhou of the Free Community Church recalls his first meeting with the counsellor at a symposium to address homosexuality and the church a decade ago.

Widely regarded as Singapore’s “Father of Counselling”, Anthony Yeo, 60, passed away on Jun 20 from complications as a result of his leukaemia, leaving behind his brother, wife and two children. He was the founder and clinical director of Counselling and Care Centre. He had numerous letters published in the press on social issues including calling for more understanding and acceptance of lesbians and gays in society. The following tribute is contributed by C. S. Zhou of the Free Community Church.

CNN: Children of gay couples speak out

29 June 2009
CNN
Source

‘Gayby boom’: Children of gay couples speak out

By John Blake

Jesse Levey is a Republican activist who says he believes in family values, small government and his lesbian mothers’ right to marry.

Levey is part of the “gayby boom” generation. The 29-year-old management consultant is the son of a lesbian couple who chose to have a child through artificial insemination. He’s their only child.

Critics of same-sex marriage say people such as Levey will grow up shunned and sexually confused. Yet he says he’s a “well-adjusted heterosexual” whose upbringing proves that love, not gender, makes a family.

TNP: Celebrity sex ed

2 June 2009
The New Paper
Source

Celebrity Sex Ed

By Kwok Kar Peng

ACTOR Adrian Pang isn’t one of those parents who shies away from talking about sex with his children.

Whether it’s how to use a condom, sexually-transmitted diseases (STDs) or homosexuality, the 43-year-old father of two does not believe in beating about the bush when it comes to the birds and the bees.

His sons, Zachary and Xander, are 10 and 9. Adrian said he first spoke to Zachary about sex when the boy was just 6 because he did not want the topic to be shrouded in mystery.

ST forum: We want our child to grow up non-discriminative

11 May 2009
Straits Times Online Forum

We want our child to grow up non-discriminative
WE REFER to last Saturday’s report, ‘Aware programme ‘exceeded guidelines”, and the justifications given by concerned parents (both in the press and online) that homosexuality is not neutral because it is ‘not natural’ and illegal.

There is increasing evidence from psychologists and scientists that suggests that sexual orientations go deeper than mere lifestyle choices and there may be genetics at work that swing people one way or another. Even nature (animal kingdom) has numerous bisexual, asexual and transsexual examples as biology evolves with its environment.

Church gives sanctuary to gay man and his family

Source: New York Times
19 September 2008

Church Gives Sanctuary to Gay Man and His Family

By SAMUEL G. FREEDMAN
Published: September 19, 2008

RALEIGH, N.C. — On that afternoon five years ago, Randy and Jill Keel arranged to meet on familiar and neutral ground. The setting was the coffee bar in a cavernous bookstore here, a place they had used other times in the two years since they had separated. Oddly anonymous in such a public place, they could speak bluntly, and angrily if necessary, outside the earshot of their four children.

Mr. Keel had spent the previous months practicing this day’s words with a therapist. He had known the essence of what he had to say for far longer. “I’m gay,” he told his wife. Ms. Keel, for her part, felt less shock than relief, for something inexplicable about their breakup had just been explained.

AFP/UPI: Norway adopts gay marriage law

Source: AFP

11 June 2008

Norway adopts gay marriage law

OSLO (AFP) — Norway’s parliament on Wednesday adopted a new marriage law that allows homosexuals to marry and adopt children and permits lesbians to be artificially inseminated.

After a heated debate, the members of parliament adopted the text by a vote of 84 to 41.

The three centre-left coalition parties in power and two opposition parties, the Conservatives and the Liberals, voted largely in favour of the law, while the Christian Democrats and the far-right Progress Party voted against it.

Phoenix TV, China, showcases a gay family

Source: A posting made on SiGNeL – People Like Us’ GLBT email group – by “Kris” on 1 June 2008, referring to a TV program that was made some months earlier

China is so much more enlightened than Singapore

Came across these videos on a documentary shown on China’s Fenghuang Dianshi (Phoenix TV) some time before March 2007.

Part 1 is here:
http://www.56.com/w26/play_album-aid-4902491_vid-MTYyODI3MzQ.html

Part 2 is here:
http://www.56.com/w26/play_album-aid-4902491_vid-MTYyODE5NDM.html

These were recorded from “Lu Yu You Yue”, or ‘A Date With Lu Yu – Tell Us Your Story’.  Lu Yu is a famous female talk show host in China. The show is in Mandarin, with Chinese sub-titles.  My apologies to those who do not understand Chinese/Mandarin…

Baiscally, the entire show focuses on the lives, love, trials and tribulations of Li Lunzuo and Ju Jiazhong.  Li was born into a farming family in Chengdu, while Ju was born in Chongqing.  Both of them were born 10+ days apart in March 1956.

Embrace those who are different from you — Anthony Yeo

Source: The Sunday Times
1 June 2008

Embrace those who are different from you

In this fortnightly column on life issues, veteran psychotherapist Anthony Yeo talks about accepting differences in people

By Anthony Yeo, Life Lines

I watched Wilde, the movie portraying a part of Oscar Wilde’s lifestyle, and left feeling sad and discomfited.

The Wilde I had adored for his literary prowess and inimitable wit was in his time admired for his unique literary style and talent. His plays performed to sell-out audiences and were received with standing ovations at a time when Victorian England was characterised by reserved and restrained patrons of the arts.

Gay and Muslim in South Africa

Source: Radio Netherlands
30 May 2008

Gay and Muslim in South Africa

by Eric Beauchemin

Homosexuality remains a taboo in much of the vast Islamic world. Most Muslim clerics condemn homosexuality outright, citing several verses of the holy Qur’an. But one South African imam thinks that they are wrong.

Imam Muhsin Hendricks was born and raised in a deeply religious Muslim household in South Africa. He started discovering that he was different at the age of five, but it wasn’t until he reached the age of 12 that he actually realised that he was gay. He decided to study the Qur’an to clear up what he believed was a fundamental contradiction. He says:

“I was always told that homosexuality was completely wrong. So I needed to understand how my creator gave me all these feelings, while people kept on telling me that as a devote Muslim, I was going to go to hell.”

Trans parent, gay son: pride across the generations

Source: Bay Windows
29 May 2008

Trans parent, gay son: pride across the generations

by Dana Rudolph

“There’s a huge difference between being gay and being trans,” affirms LGBT activist and parent Marti Abernathey. Many would agree, but Abernathey has a rare perspective: she is transgender, and has a gay son. Despite their differences, though, she feels they share a certain bond: “In the whole coming out process there are a lot of similarities. I think his understanding of that has helped him understand where I’m at. And vice versa.” Abernathey has one child from each of two previous marriages.