KUALA LUMPUR, June 8 ― The Health Ministry today confirmed it has renamed two out of three categories for a video contest, following backlash and criticism that its use of the “gender confusion” term discriminates the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community.
A senior ministry official, Datuk Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman, in explaining the renaming said the Health Ministry had held a discussion with key stakeholders including the Malaysian AIDS Council, expert groups and representatives of “key population groups” to clarify misunderstandings due to phrases used in the promotion of the contest.
“This meeting successfully cleared the misunderstandings and collectively improvements were made to the competition guideline.
“Everyone unanimously agreed that continuing this competition is an important step towards the progress and advancement of the SRH programme for adolescents in Malaysia,” the ministry's deputy director-general of health (public health) said in a statement today, referring to sexual and reproductive health.
He said the scope of the competition is kept to three topics, of which 2 topics were reworded: gender and sexuality, reproductive health, and cybersex.
The ministry's previous flyer promoting the National Creative Video Competition on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health had carried the theme “Value Yourself, Practice Healthy Lifestyle”, with the three categories then named as sexual reproductive, cybersex and “gender confusion”.
The guidelines listed “gay, lesbian, transgender, transvestite, and tomboy” as examples under the “gender confusion” category.
Examples given for the cybersex category had included cyber bullying, online grooming, sexual exploitation, sextortion, the dangers of pornography; while the other category's listed examples included the value of abstaining from sex before marriage, teen pregnancy, promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS, how to handle sexual harassment and rape.
The guidelines required the video content for the three categories required to show the consequences and also how to “prevent, control and ways to seek help”, problem solving and a creative and positive presentation.
Today, Lokman Hakim stressed that the ministry reiterates its “good faith and the purpose of this competition is not to single out nor to discriminate the LGBT community”.
“Rather, it is hoped that this video competition will shed light on the understanding of adolescents on sexual and reproductive health (SRH) related matters, explore adolescents' views, experiences, challenges and where to seek help if necessary,” he said.
Transgender activist Nisha Ayub who attended the meeting yesterday had told Malay Mail Online that the ministry agreed to drop any references to the LGBT community, as well as replace the term gender confusion with gender and sexuality.
Nisha said the meeting was very meaningful and interactive and that the entire short video competition targeted at adolescents was to inform them about practising a healthier lifestyle.
