A symposium which was held on Friday (25th April), organised by the Singapore Planned Parenthood Association has been slammed for featuring an extremely homophobic and bigoted keynote speaker who spent a lot of his speech on anti-gay topics.
The symposium was called "Towards a Values-Centred Society & Lessons from Values-Free Societies".
The event was attended by Jolene Tan of aware Singapore who live-tweeted some of the key points made during Dr Melvin Wong's speech.
Dr Melvin Wong was the keynote speaker at the event. He is a California based Clinical Psychologist. He has sparked some controversy before for his aggressive anti-gay agenda and promotion of 'reparative therapy' a therapy which involves 'converting' homosexuals into heterosexuals through a variety of methods.
His conservative anti-gay beliefs also prompted a group of American philologists to distance themselves and the American Psychological Association from Dr Wong.
At the Symposium, it was reported by AWARE that Dr Wong had made a variety of homophobic and concerning comments such as suggesting that parents need to decide the sexual orientation of their children.
He also claimed that making a child grow up in a family with gay parents was "almost child abuse".
He repeatedly emphasised that homosexuals can change and that society should respect only those who want to change. He also suggested that boys who are day need "manhood development".
Ms Tan, who was at the event and live-tweeting it, also claimed that she was told to keep quiet or leave as her 'confrontational' questions were "hijacking" the conference.
Dr Wong also commented that school's should teach abstinence only sexual education and that parents and the church are where children should receive the most sexual education.
It appears that the focus of his speech was on parents promoting abstinence and a Christian education for their children with a heavy anti-gay undertone.
Many slammed the choice of speakers by the Singapore Planned Parenthood Association (SPPA) and the backward way of thinking that Dr Wong was promoting.
