My second engagement was with Ms. Zuby Eusofe of The Healing Circle, an organisation that acts as a safe space for queer members of the Muslim community who require assistance in their journey of self-exploration and reconciliation with their spirituality.

She comes from an Islamic background and her mother was a former Quran religious teacher. The biggest thing that I took away from my discussion with Ms. Eusofe, who has extensive knowledge on the teachings of the Quran and the preachings of Islam, is that the true representation of homosexuality in religion (especially Islam) has been lost in translation over the years, as manipulated by clerics and spiritual leaders. The legitimacy of these spiritual leaders in their communities has led to the creation of stigma around the LGBTQ+ community in conservative religious circles, and it has spilled out into general society as well. As she put it herself, “religion is there to reinstate a disciplinary about not having non-consensual sex, but it has nothing to do about not liking someone of the same gender.”

She explained to me how Singapore, being a traditionally conservative state founded on the principles of communitarianism and strict Asian values, has always been resistant to major societal change, something that is very much motivated by the need to maintain the social order for the purpose of maintaining economic growth. In other words, civil rights takes a secondary role to economic development. Additionally, when it comes to these welfare organisations trying to gain legitimacy through official registration as a company in Singapore, they are usually more comfortable  staying as a small, unregistered organisation because registration would mean funding controlled by the government who would have leverage to impose their will on the activities of organisations such as The Healing Circle. Fundings will be directed in terms of quotas, and this will mean that the government will have a say in the kind of people that The Healing Circle will be allowed to help, be it race, sexual orientation, gender, etc. There is still racial motivation in this aspect as well, according to Ms. Eusofe.

I think that the biggest takeaway from this conversation was the idea of representation, be it in the media or by powerful authoritative figures, has really been misconstrued when it comes to the LGBTQ+ community. Clerics have continued to preach anti-LGBTQ rhetoric that, according to Ms. Eusofe, has been manipulated from what the Quran dictates. Not only this, but representation in the media regarding Section 377A-D, where Section 377A happens to be the most reported (criminalising sexual conduct between two men), represents Section 377A-D as being completely about anti-homosexuality, as compared to the penal code really being about sodomy in public, in general; people are quick to assume the negative attitude towards homosexuality as a result of the highlighted importance on the 377A clause by the media.