Text: Funny Cox

Moral censorship is the removal of materials that are obscene or otherwise morally questionable.

Censorship is alive and well in Asia and clearly some people in Asia feel that gay and lesbian culture and even the words “gay” and “lesbian”, are morally unacceptable.

There was controversy about this recently over the Pan-Asian satellite TV network’s, STAR coverage of the Oscars. They cut the Oscar acceptance speeches of Sean Penn and Dustin Lance Black for Milk, a film that portrays the life of the gay rights activist, Harvey Milk.

When the words “gay” and “lesbian” were said the sound mysteriously faded in a ridiculous attempt to save the ears of the young from the corruptive force of the words… after all, isn’t the reason we’re all gay is due to the use of the word as an insult while we were growing up? Told that we were gay so many times we started to believe it… like verbal osmosis. It doesn’t really explain why I’m bi though, as it’s a word rarely mentioned. Maybe it was the discussion of bilateral aid when I was at university? Who knows… damn that sociology module – damn it to hell!!!!

Despite the despicable nature of this censorship the story slipped under the radar. No big fuss was made and the story was covered in more international newspapers than Asian ones.

STAR spokeswoman, Jannie Poon defended the action, saying that while there was no intention of upsetting viewers, the company has “a responsibility to take the sensitivities and guidelines of all our markets into consideration.”

The company, owned by Rupert Murdoch, broadcasts to more than 300 million viewers in 53 Asian countries. Imagine if Dustin Lance Black’s impassioned speech were to have been viewed across Asia in all its glory: “To all the gay and lesbian kids out there … you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you.”

Mahatma Gandhi once said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Clearly, STAR does not wish to see any change, but rather wishes to support the views of the weak minded and the bigoted – after all, what did Ghandi know?

But this is not all. There was a recent withdrawal of a Singaporean movie about a homosexual relationship between a teacher and his 18-year-old student from a film festival after Government censors said sex scenes had to be cut. The movie in question, Solos, was withdrawn after the board said in a statement that the film contained “prolonged and explicit homosexual lovemaking scenes including scenes of oral sex and threesome sex,” which had to be removed. I think they may have just got a little too excited about it; homophobes usually have homosexual tendencies, after all and I think they wanted to cut these scenes so they could watch them over and over again. I’m sure the decision making process was very long and hard for them, but no doubt they are happy they came to a decision. It must have been an explosive atmosphere in the meeting room, reaching a frenzied climax.

The producer said the filmmakers had not expected the censors to demand the cuts as the 20-year-old festival has previously screened movies that were more graphic.

It’s not just Asia though. Tennessee schools recently banned gay friendly websites from schools, like: Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; the Human Rights Campaign; the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network; the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation; and Marriage Equality USA. Theses schools still allow access to ‘reparative’ and ‘ex-gay’ ministries’ sites.
So with all this against us, why do we censor ourselves? If we refuse to tell people we are gay; if we censor our lives and conduct our relationships like a clandestine affair; if we don’t fight when they censor us or when they imply that we are dirty by taking away from our artistic achievements or when they take away the right to information that the confused youth has a right to – we can’t complain when the decisions that these people make actually affect us negatively. If your mouths are shut now, then they have to remain that way. pensively reachable from Barcelona.