Malaysia sends 66 Muslim boys to anti-gay camp for being “effeminate”

That’s not a culture to be proud of, hun

In which the Malaysian government further exposes its homophobic cluelessness:

(AP) KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia- Malaysian authorities have sent 66 Muslim schoolboys identified by teachers as effeminate to a four-day camp where they will receive counseling on masculine behavior to discourage them from being gay, an official said Tuesday.

Gay rights advocates decried the measure as a symptom of widespread homophobia in this Muslim-majority country where gay sex is illegal.

The boys between 13 and 17 years old reported Monday for what is officially being called a "self-development course" after their schoolteachers in Terengganu state identified them as students who displayed effeminate mannerisms, said Razali Daud, the state's education director.

They will undergo religious and motivational classes and physical guidance, Razali said. He declined to give further details.

The camp is meant "to guide them back to the right path in life before they reach a point of no return," Razali told The Associated Press. "Such effeminate behavior is unnatural and will affect their studies and their future."

Uh-huh. Tell me, Mr. Education Director: Which is “unnatural”, here – kids exhibiting ingrained behaviors that make them comfortable with who they are, or being forced to adapt new, more “manly” and “socially acceptable” mannerisms through conditioning and brainwashing?

This is more than just reminiscent of all those Christian “gay deconversion therapy” groups that so many Americans are coerced into attending by intolerant environments; it’s virtually the exact same thing. And, just like their American counterparts, these people apparently fail to comprehend the fact that it’s not being gay, or “effeminate” (which, to be frank, is a trait a few more guys ought to exhibit now and then), or in any way non-heteronormative, that makes so many LGBT youths (and adults) miserable about themselves and society as a whole. It’s exactly this sort of bullshit persecution and stigmatization, leading them to believe that they’re unnatural/immoral/perverted/etc. when all they’re doing is expressing their feelings in ways that the blind society around them dictates aren’t okay.

That is what’s “wrong” and “immoral”.

(via Joe. My. God.)