Why take pride in labels, LGBTQ community?

This letter was sent to Voices@TODAY on 22 September 2018 but was not published.

At a time when people with disabilities and mental illnesses are encouraging the general public to look beyond labels, it is ironical and regretful that a certain community cling on and take pride in their label as LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer).

In our sincere interactions with people, do we introduce ourselves by our sexual orientation, our disability or mental illness or do we engage in meaningful conversations about our personalities, our likes and dislikes, our aspirations and our contributions to this nation that we are bred in?

We may shout slogans without understanding the meaning of the words used. How healthy is sodomy? Who did the research?

Does freedom mean we can do whatever we want regardless of consequences or does it mean that we are no longer under the bondage of our minds and bodies such that we have true liberty? Does love mean total agreement with our loved ones or do we agree to disagree because we choose to esteem others higher than ourselves?

Our search for truth that is absolute and unchanging is critical, without which human life is doomed to futility. In seeking out this truth, we must first accord one another with the utmost respect that we ourselves would want to receive. Being pro-LGBT cannot be seen as being trendy or politically correct for that would be demeaning to any person who is seriously asking existential questions like, “Who am I?”, “What am I doing on this earth?” and the aching universal question, “Am I loved, based on the number of people who accepts me?”

Does anyone have immunity to negative comments, rude stares or bad treatment?

377A is not just a law. Repealing it would mean that sodomy is the same as natural sex between a man and a woman. How true is that?

If we are to engage in a meaningful discourse, let us strip away the rhetoric and get to the root of our identity crisis, both individually and as a nation (“Various forms of discrimination against LGBTQ community reported to support groups”; 21 September).