I joined this activity because of the passion of the topic that I developed in my Global Perspectives class in grade 10.

I wanted to develop my knowledge on the issue in Singapore as well as gain insight into what it takes to run a Focus Group.

The focus group aims to raise awareness of LGBTQ+ issues in Singapore and aims to educate the UWC community on who and what make up the LGBTQ+ community.

Unfortunately, all actions taken within the GC are very heavily considered due to the governmental restrictions, which restricts the school from too much advocacy.

Therefore, all of the actions and events planned must consider all the varying perspectives that influence and play a role on the issue.

Because I hold such a strong opinion on the issue, I wanted to take as much action as possible, and didn’t consider other people’s perspectives to be as valid as mine, because I found mine to be the morally ‘correct’. However, through exposure to the issue and the actions the focus group is taking, I built an understanding of how complex the matter is, and how I need to consider a wider range of perspectives, regardless of whether I find them to be true or not. I also learnt that I could not let my moral beliefs interfere with my actions, as it could cause more problems than benefits for the topic at hand.

Overall, due to the taboo nature of the subject, I foresee more challenges in this Focus Group, but also areas for personal growth as I learn to discuss and deal with aiming to make positive changes in such complicated circumstances.