Q Should youth be entitled to unbiased advice on sexuality? In the morning session of the recent sexual wholeness seminar (City, December 30), Melvin Wong outlined a four-point plan to treat lesbianism. The fourth point was wearing a dress and putting on makeup. On his website, to which Dr Wong asked people to refer, he expands this to suggest the wearing of high heels. We stand by our earlier statement, that advice of this sort can be dangerous to vulnerable young people. Bella Luk, Amnesty International, Hong Kong Section In reference to your story of December 30, 'Wearing a dress 'a cure for lesbianism'', I abhor the ideas promoted in the workshop. It is unethical for mental health professionals to spread misinformation on homosexuality and encourage discrimination based on sexual orientation. Objective scientific research has, since the 1970s, shown that being gay, lesbian or bisexual is not associated with mental illness. Undoubtedly, only pre-1970s material was quoted in the workshop. In 1975, the American Psychological Association passed a resolution that stated: 'Homosexuality per se implies no impairment in judgment, stability, reliability, or general social and vocational capabilities; further, the American Psychological Association urges all mental health professionals to take the lead in removing the stigma of mental illness that has long been associated with homosexual orientations.' It is also vital to note that 'ex-gay' therapy is rejected by most psychological, medical and psychiatric organisations, including the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of Paediatrics, the American Medical Association and the American Psychiatric Association. The Post should be commended for speaking up for the rights of minorities and bringing such issues to public attention. Ignorance and prejudice are not conducive to a civilised and harmonious community. W. S. Tang, Western Q What is your special wish for the New Year and why? My wish is that the Hong Kong government gets its act together and their priorities right, which means the people of Hong Kong come first and the sweetheart deals for our property tycoons are over. Jeffry Kuperus, Clear Water Bay On other matters... It seems to me that Iain Dacre, who filed a complaint in your Take Action column (City, January 3), was indeed carrying hand luggage when carrying his folding bike on the New World Ferry from Mui Wo to Central. Therefore, why has New World barred him from carrying it on board? Although the cycling fraternity could not persuade the MTR Corporation to drop its ban on bikes on trains, I know from experience that even the MTRC is allowing folding bikes. When are transport companies like New World going to realise that we must move towards a truly integrated transport network? This is the first time I have heard of a transport company refusing passage to a folded bike anywhere in the world and is another example of why we are not yet a world-class city. Phil Holmes, Tsing Lung Tau TVB's decision to screen Mega Tsunami 10 days after the Asian disaster is only matched in poor taste by the voiceover used in advertisements for the programme. The announcer sounds like he's introducing the latest Hollywood blockbuster. A shocking example of exploiting such a sad event. Would TVB care to comment? Stewart Montgomery, Central I run my own company, based in North Point, and live in Sai Kung. One of the benefits of running my own company is that I can work at home during quiet periods such as Christmas and Chinese New Year. However, this was my first Christmas with a Netvigator internet connection at home, and everything has changed. I should stress that I am not a willing Netvigator customer: I am one of the unfortunate So-net customers who was transferred to Netvigator when So-net closed down. In the four months since my service was switched to PCCW, I have suffered from at least 20 outages, ranging in length from one hour to two days. My wife also works from home, and an internet connection is essential to both of us. The unreliability of the service would be bad enough in itself, but PCCW's utter contempt for its customers makes things far worse. On the technical support hotline, a recorded voice tells you that, if you can't connect to the internet, it's because you have set your computer up wrongly. It gives no more advice. This is beyond belief. After making repeated calls to PCCW's public relations department - I had, by this stage, given up the technical support hotline as it was impossible to reach anyone - I was eventually given the direct number of the head of PCCW's technical support department. While he has done everything he can to help, he appears to have had his efforts scuppered by his staff. On several occasions, he told us that his staff had found no fault with our line, even though all available evidence proved otherwise. I would dearly love to leave PCCW and move to another service provider, but PCCW enjoys an absolute monopoly on wire-line services in the rural New Territories. I therefore urge the Office of the Telecommunications Authority to licence fixed-wireless broadband providers for these regions as soon as possible. Any such licence should be issued free to encourage competition. Bruce McLaughlin, Sai Kung
