The Malaysian Islamic Development Department has confirmed that it produced and distributed a flyer on Valentine’s Day purportedly debunking myths about homosexuality, and defended the action by saying it was an exercise to promote healthy lifestyles and to curb the spread of the HIV virus among Malaysian Muslims.
Jakim also noted that it had been passing out the flyers for the past two years, and had no plans to stop doing so.
“Our reason to distribute the flyers was as a guide for Muslims to practise a healthy lifestyle, and Muslims are prohibited from having same-sex relationships because it is obviously forbidden by the religion.
“In addition, it was to prevent the spread of HIV virus among Muslims. That is the reason why we must abandon this unhealthy way of life,” Jakim director-general Othman Mustapha told The Malay Mail‘s Zurairi AR in a brief statement.
The flyer, titled “10 Myths About Homosexuality”, claims among other things that homosexuals are more prone to mental illness and are more likely to be unfaithful to their partners.
The flyer also claims as “fact” that homosexuals are more at risk of contracting sexually-transmitted diseases, and experience higher levels of mental illness, as well as suffering from substance abuse.
Homosexuals are also able to change their sexual orientation through counselling and therapy, and efforts or campaigns to dissuade the public to these efforts are a breach of ethics and rob homosexuals of the opportunity to discard their deviant lifestyle.
It has previously been noted that the contents of the flyer bear striking similarities to claims put forrth by the Family Research Council (FRC), a conservative evangelical Christian organisation in the United States which has bee combatting gay rights, abortion rights, embryonic stem-cell research and pornography in the US since its founding in 1983.
More on CoconutsKL:
New Jakim flyer says homosexuals are more prone to mental illness, infidelity
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