Liberal attitudes on gay lifestyles not prevalent here

SINGAPORE — As far as the Our Singapore Conversation survey results go, liberal attitudes on the issues of gay lifestyles, same-sex marriage and freedom of expression are largely not prevalent here.

The survey found that society, in general, did not accept gay lifestyles, although views differed across age groups and education levels; younger and more educated Singaporeans were relatively more accepting.

There was even less support for same-sex marriage, which was rejected by the majority of respondents across nearly all educational profiles.

On the issue of freedom of expression and censorship, the results indicated that Singaporeans had differing views on the right balance between complete freedom of expression on the one hand, and preventing social tensions on the other.

While there was no clear consensus across all age groups, older Singaporeans seemed to place more value in censorship as a means of protecting public interest.

Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) Senior Research Fellow Leong Chan Hoong said the findings on Singaporeans’ acceptance of gay lifestyles was consistent with “past empirical research on attitudes to homosexuality in Singapore”. “We’re generally a conservative society with strong emphasis on traditional values,” he added.

A middle ground of close to 30 per cent of respondents across age groups and education levels were neutral on the issue of gay lifestyles, which IPS Faculty Associate Tan Ern Ser said should be seen as “neither for nor against, or it could be an unwillingness to choose”.

Dr Leong concurred: “Many Singaporeans are just indifferent to this issue, and the large percentage of ‘neutral’ corroborated that.

“The implicit compact between the mainstream and homosexuals is that of a mutually respectful and non-confrontational engagement. Singaporeans are not upset as long as gays do not advocate making alternative lifestyles a part of the mainstream.”

Using the analogy of left- and right-handers, he said: “It doesn’t matter if a person is left-handed, even if the majority belong to the latter. However, if left-handed people insist that we put in place an alternative left-handed device for every gadget, then, of course, there will be tension between the two groups.”

Asked whether the greater acceptance of gay lifestyles and same-sex marriage among younger age groups would indicate a more liberal society in future, Associate Professor Tan noted that there were two main theories in academic literature.

“One is that people change from being liberal to being more conservative as they grow older — more like a life-cycle kind of theory,” he said.

“The other theory is that, if you’re born in an era or in a certain generation where people tend to be liberal, you continue to be liberal throughout your life. So, you can’t really tell whether this is the case.”