ST Forum Online: Vital to distinguish between rights and claims (June 12)

June 12, 2008

I REFER to Mrs Constance Singam's letter, 'Human-rights fanatics is what S'pore needs' (June 6).

There is a need to distinguish between a human right and a claim by vested political groups.

For instance, is the right of adoption a human right?

In some countries, vested parties push for rights of adoption, including assisted reproduction for same-sex couples. This is campaigned under the banner of human rights.

Homosexual activists, keen for the decriminalisation of homosexuality, use the human rights banner to push for their cause.

However, when this is achieved, homosexual activists use the same argument to push for other 'equal rights'.

In some countries, it is compulsory to teach that homosexuality is a norm in pubic schools, recognise same-sex couples as 'married' and for orphanages to allow adoption by same-sex couples.

The promotion of the homosexual lifestyle is funded by tax payers' money under the 'equal rights' argument.

Opponents like orphanages which are against adoption by same-sex couples, for instance, are subject to legal action or even forced to close down.

The Singapore majority have demonstrated their preference for family values as a basic fabric of society.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) also states that the family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by the State.

It is prudent of Attorney-General Walter Woon to highlight the danger of human rights being abused by a fanatic group, against the will of the Singapore society and the founders of the UDHR.

Chua Chor Ping (Ms)

NZ Herald: Australia rocked by 'lesbian' koala revelation

Australia rocked by 'lesbian' koala revelation

11:00AM Sunday February 25, 2007
By Roger Dobson

Female koalas indulge in lesbian "sex sessions", rejecting male suitors and attempting to mate with each other, sometimes up to five at a time, according to researchers.

The furry, eucalyptus-eating creatures appear to develop this tendency for same-sex liaisons when they are in captivity. In the wild, they remain heterosexual.

Scientists monitoring the marsupials with digital cameras counted three homosexual interactions for every heterosexual one.

"Some females rejected the advances of males that were in their enclosures, only to become willing participants in homosexual encounters immediately after," say the researchers.

"On several occasions more than one pair of females shared the same pole, and multiple females mounted each other simultaneously. At least one multiple encounter involved five female koalas.

"One theory put forward by the researchers is that the females do it to attract males; another is that it is simply hormonal, or that it is a stress reliever.

Scientists from the University of Queensland studied 130 koalas in captivity and will publish their results in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science.

"Our aim was to determine the extent of differences in the homosexual and heterosexual behaviour of female koalas and thereby to determine the purpose of female homosexual behaviour in the koala," say the researchers.

"Wild koalas brought into captivity clearly display homosexual behaviour on a regular basis. A total of 15 heterosexual and 43 homosexual interactions were recorded in separate animals. Homosexual behaviour was restricted to females only. Heterosexual encounters were typically twice as long as homosexual encounters," they add.

- INDEPENDENT