GAY TEENS IN SINGAPORE (Statistics)

Column No : 1012

GAY TEENS IN SINGAPORE:

(Statistics): 9.

Dr Tan Sze Wee asked the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (a) what are the latest statistics on the number of gay teens in Singapore, if any; and (b) what are the plans his Ministry has, both educational and interventional, to address the issue of the growing number of gay teens in Singapore.

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports (Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman) (for the Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports): Sir, my Ministry does not have statistics on the number of gay teens in Singapore. Dr Tan would appreciate the difficulty in obtaining such data.

However, Sir, I would like to emphasise that teenagers are at a stage of their life when they are exploring their identity. They will question many aspects and facets of their lives. A small percentage would question or have concerns about sexual identity and orientation.

The issue of sexual identity is addressed in MOE's "Growing Years" programme, which is implemented from the upper primary level onwards to JCs. At the upper primary level, pupils are taught to recognise the changes accompanying puberty. At the lower secondary level, pupils are taught, among other things, what homosexuality is, including the difference between homosexuality and "sissy"/"tomboy" behaviour. At the upper secondary level onwards, pupils learn the differences and similarities between males and females. They evaluate their views towards their own self and others when it comes to gender differences and stereotypes.

Within schools, teens who have sexuality-related concerns are encouraged to speak to a trusted adult. This could be their parents, a teacher, school counsellor, or helping professionals from external agencies engaged by the school such as MCYS' STEP-UP programme, or the School Family Education (SFE) programme. Teens with more serious issues are referred to trained professionals at the Psychological and Guidance Services Branch of MOE or to specialist health agencies like the Child Guidance Clinics.

At the community level, all 36 Family Service Centres (FSCs) under MCYS' purview provide counselling if parents or teens need help with regard to a teen's sexual identity or orientation. Parental involvement is critical in helping teens deal with sexuality issues.

Sexual identity issues are part and parcel of the growing up process and it does not necessarily signal a homosexual orientation. MCYS and MOE will continue to examine how we can build and strengthen the support system for teens and their parents.

Dr Tan Sze Wee: I thank the Parliamentary Secretary for the answer. I am actually concerned about the rising trends although I do not think we have actively collected data on this. The reason why it has prompted me to ask the question is from a recent report in the newspapers where based on the Action for Aids finding, that out of 113 youths, who were below 20 years old, they were tested for HIV, 90 were boys and half of them were gays and the remaining were girls. Although the percentage of HIV-infected individuals below the age of 19 is still very small, between 0.5% and 1.5%, I find it quite disturbing that ---

Mr Speaker: Do not go into a speech. Ask your questions, please.

Dr Tan Sze Wee: The question is, there should be concerted efforts between MCYS, MOH and the Ministry of Education to look into this rising trend because a lot of these gay teens are not even concerned about protecting themselves using condoms and anecdotal reports of them having multiple sexual partners and having it with older men.

Dr Mohamad Maliki Bin Osman: Sir, Dr Tan has highlighted the key issue. I think it is not so much specifically the gay teens issue because it is very hard to identify them and target interventions at them. But the issue is about the sexual behaviour of young people, whether they understand the issues involved in sexual promiscuity, whether they are actually aware of the effects of some of their behaviour, as Dr Tan mentioned, unprotected sex and having multiple partners. The strategy is to target at young people, understand and assess the extent of their sexual behaviour at this point in time and educate them accordingly in terms of the effects of those behaviours. They must understand all this information and it is important for them to take personal responsibility about their sexual behaviour. The issue is not so much targeting at gay teens per se but targeting at our youngsters and to see whether they understand the implications of their sexual behaviour and the need for them to be more aware of those implications.