‘How to spot a gay’ guide in Malaysian newspaper angers LGBT activists
If you have a beard, wear branded clothing and go to the gym, then you may be gay, says guide in Malaysian daily
A leading Malaysian newspaper has published a list of pointers for identifying potential gay and lesbian people, drawing anger from activists who said lives were being put at risk.
The article in Sinar Harian featured bullet points of supposedly distinctive qualities that revealed LGBT people. They stated that gay men were easy to identify because of their love of beards, going to the gym – not for exercise but to check out other men – and branded clothing. Their eyes light up when they see handsome men, the article said.
The stand-out attributes for lesbians were that they tend to hug each other, hold hands and belittle men, according to the newspaper.
How the hell does a gay person endanger your life?
Homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia and punishable under a colonial-era sodomy law that carries a 20-year prison sentence.
Campaigners have called for a softening of rhetoric in Malaysian media after a series of deaths of men and women suspected of being gay or transgender.
An 18-year-old student, T Nhaveen, was beaten and burned to death last year by classmates who said he was “pondan”, a colloquial term for a gay man. A 27-year-old transgender woman, Sameera Krishnan, was knifed and shot in an attack in her florists a few months later.
Arwind Kumar, an activist and one of Malaysia’s biggest social media stars, lashed out at the Sinar Harian article, saying it could “take away lives”.