Stop the AWARE Hijacking

22 Apr

Dear Popagandhi.com readers, you have all been good to me over the years. You already know my stand on certain things, namely feminism, sexuality, and Being Singaporean. Despite all that, I never cared much for activism either. I’d dipped my toes into those murky waters very briefly in my younger days, and never cared to go back into it.

It’s about to change.

AWARE (Association of Women for Action and Research) has been the foremost voice for women in my country, Singapore. Despite its shortcomings (and there are many), we have always been able to count on it for one thing: it was non-partisan. It spoke for all women, regardless of religion, sexuality or race. That’s especially important in a country like ours that lacks a culture of civil participation.

Although I am now many miles away travelling the Middle East (Beirut, if you must know), I am deeply concerned by the recent hijack of the organization’s leadership by what we believe to be fundamentalist Christians.

Yes, AWARE’s constitution was lacking, and its leadership perhaps too complacent in not being able to prevent such a thing. Yes, that sort of thing can happen. And maybe AWARE does need new blood. Whatever the case is, the facts are there and it’s up to you to decide. The circumstances in which the new leadership gained power were more than suspect — most of its members were new, and the new committee, beyond being more unproven in civil society, were complete strangers whose only claims to fame were militantly homophobic letters to the national press, and a shared membership in a certain actively homophobic church (which, if you must know, is Church of Our Saviour — the one that once audaciously hung the dastardly “Gay But Not Happy?” banners on their grounds along the MRT).

I don’t care what you think about homosexuals or about homosexuality. But I think we can all agree that an organization who speaks for all Singaporean women would suffer under such a leadership. The noted playwright Ovidia Yu mentions in her blog that “At least two people mentioned receiving emails warning them that to protect their daughters from the lesbian influences they should join Aware & and help vote out the old committee”. My personal sources within the NGO movement have enough grounds to fear that the organization, under such a leadership, will actively seek to overturn any progress we have made as a society for our women — in particular on sexuality and reproductive rights.

One important note. AWARE is not, by any stretch of imagination, a campaigner of gay rights. They have never once stood up for lesbian or bisexual women. (See this for more background reading.) We are interested because if you have been around Singapore often enough you will know that the militancy of the fundamental Christian right has, in recent years, been shockingly antagonistic, not only towards gay people, but towards anyone who didn’t fit their ideology. And that is dangerous. (Note: if you want to quibble on religion, forget it — I have been and am Christian all my life. And the Christians I grew up around are nowhere like this bunch. Anyone with a problem with my sexuality and my religion would do well to read their own Bible, short of telling me to read mine.) You need to be concerned with this if you believe, like I do, that our NGOs and bodies of governance need to be secular. And that if they are not, they need to explicitly state who they are, and what their aims are.

Here’s what you can do, if you care enough. Please pass this on. (Ripped off from Pat Law from here on, since she has all the details.)

There will be an Extraordinary General Meeting (EOGM) come 2 May, Saturday, where all AWARE members will get a chance to vote. I won’t instigate for you to cast a no-confidence vote against the new administration but I’d like to urge for you to get that voice back together with all of us concerned citizens of this country. After all, we’ve lost our voice once. Let’ not lose it again.

Sign up today as an AWARE member in order to vote and drop me a comment at the end of this blog post with the message you want displayed on the wallpaper. Remember, every vote counts.

Details of the EOGM is as follow:

Date
2 May 2009, Saturday

Time
1400h – 1700h (do not be late else you might not get a chance to vote)

Venue
First Choice Auditorium
3 Lorong 6 Toa Payoh
#01-01 HSR Building
Singapore 319378

Other things to note:

1/ Only FEMALE members who are Singaporean & PRs above 18 years old are allowed to vote. However, men who are associate members are welcome to come and observe the proceedings.

2/ Sign up at www.aware.org.sg

3/ For those who signed up online and did not receive their membership card, please print out your confirmation email and receipt and bring it along for the EOGM.

4/ Join the Facebook group for more updates

possibly related

Possibly the Most Difficult Post I Have Ever Written /15 Steps To Sapphic Bliss /Thanks to Melissa Fryrear /Why I Don’t Usually Talk About Anything Else /The UnXpected@Zouk /
  • I'm here in Singapore this week and im hear a lot about this around me. I'll try and spread the word around and get ppl to do something.
  • Peel
    Thanks for posting this. Please also note that if you're not gonna be in town when the EGM happens, you cannot vote. I'm not sure how it will affect the outcome with a null vote. So I guess it's better to only join as an AWARE member if you are sure you can turn up. Thanks!
  • Hello & thanks for posting this from so far away!
  • yh
    everyone from their church will turn up.
  • JF
    Wnder if u still remember me ?

    Anyhows, i plugged this onto my brog alr.
  • An open letter to be signed by Singaporeans overseas has been posted at http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/gender-equa...

    If you are a Singaporean citizen or PR living overseas and are concerned about the take-over of AWARE by fundamentalists and this implies for secular civil society, please read and sign the petition.

    When sufficient signatures have been gathered, a print version will be disseminated in Singapore, prior to the EOGM on 2 May 2009.

    Please sign with your name as in your NRIC, stating your current country of residence. You may also provide your NRIC number. Thank you.
  • Thanks for posting this Adri.
  • D
    while I'm not a fan of Josie Lau and her lot, i don't think it is altogether wise to call on Singaporean women to be members of AWARE in order to vote her team out.

    isn't that what Josie and her team did too?

    with all this talk about her team not being familiar enough with AWARE to actually head it, it is definitely going to get messy if her team gets booted out by members who just joined in the past week or so.

    just wondering.
  • well.. the difference is... these new members will be voting in known figures who have been associated with aware and who have demonstrated they have done a good job. instead of voting in shifty, collusive figures with ties to the christian underground!
  • P
    Aren't all these no different from setting up a coup similar to the accusations throw at Josie Lau and her lot in the earlier voting?

    Are the old guards crying foul because they were voted out legally or they turning this whole thing into a cry for help because it was unexpected?
  • @P: Frankly, i think christian right winged (or any religious right winged group for that matter) group has no place in a womens rights organization or for that matter any human rights organization,i think.

    Especially when you are homophobic in nature. Being gay/lesbian is ones own personal affair. Nobody has the right to interfere. By publishing anti gay ads the group that has now encroached upon AWARE management is trying to take over a organization that existed for a noble cause and turn it over into a problem, what it actually intended to solve, originally.

    I've been in singapore only for a few days and ive spoken to a few people and read the newspapers. Its evident to see this is a hijacking of a secular organization by a religious fanatic group. I fail to understand how one cannot see this since its quite evidently clear what is happening with AWARE.

    Nevertheless, in any democracy you should be able to challenge anything. That is the essence of democracy. So if what you are doing is right, any challenges should not be a matter of concern. Clearly the Christian group knows they've been caught doing something they imagined people wouldn't take notice.
  • Meemee
    well said Dilip. People like P are clearly looking for an excuse to sit on their apathetic asses and watch decisions being made for them..
  • Meemee
    @ D: So what if what we are doing is similar? At least we stand for Aware's values and are not doing this to further a homophobic agenda.

    I think its about time that people in Singapore appreciated Aware's existence and came forth to make a difference. Sign up.Be a member. Get involved.

    At least in this round, you can be assured the new members who have joined as a result of this will contribute to the best of their abilities to represent the values Aware holds dear.Their passion in taking a stand for Aware will definately be a start.


    As for you homophobes out there..I think you are all evil. To spread messages of hate and prejudice under the guise of it being 'God's love' or 'God's way'. Don't lie. It is NOT God's way to spread hate or cause animosity. Please leave gay people alone, you sick perverse nitwits.

    I apologise for the harshness of this entry Popagandhi.I am just appalled by all of this!
  • Guest
    @yh how do you know that everyone from coos will turn up???
  • MonoGrizzly
    Isn't this vote-buying?
    Now it has turned into a mudfight.


    soojenn said, on April 21, 2009 at 11:20 am

    If the old exc members are really working on for the good of AWARE and not doing this as a power struggle, an option would be to get supporters/sponsors for females who like to join but cannot afford the S$40 annual fee. How many members do the old exco anticipate that the new exco can get? 100, 200, 400, et.c.. to support them? In reponse to this, the old exco should have a similar approach to get much more people to support them if they like to oust the new exco.

    The old exco could possibly sponser such potential new members who cannot afford this fee, each taking in perhaps 10 members each….

    If you really think the old exco is really working towards the good for all women out there, I could even think of sponsoring 10 - 20 people for that matter. I believe that there are also others out there who may e willing to do the same to preserve the neutrality of AWARE.


    mathialee said, on April 21, 2009 at 11:38 am

    I completely agree with your suggestions, but I think that rather than looking to someone else to do the job, we should do what ever we can. That’s what I’m trying to do, and that’s what a lot of bloggers and FB etc people are trying to do.. Then we can only hope we win the numbers game.

    I greatly admire your generosity in wanting to sponsor people who cannot afford it.

    If we can work out a good way of administering this, and more importantly, of being accountable to you because we don’t want you to be taken advantaged of, I’ll be happy to help out, in the administration and in the advertising.

    We might even get more kind sponsors

    http://mathialee.wordpress.com/2009/04/17/aware...


    Free membership for one year in exchange for your vote! Whilst stocks last! Get yours now!
  • vote buying, i think, is when you offer someone something of value in order to buy their vote for you - and not giving them the chance to vote, per se.

    this issue is NOT about homosexuality or about what josie lau thinks about it.

    the reason why gays/lesbians/others are up in arms about this is because we have always received the bulk of these people's accusations and are well aware of what they can do.

    i am not concerned that josie lau likely wants to introduce anti-homosexuality ideas into her agenda.

    i am concerned that josie lau and her exco wants to introduce anti-WOMAN ideas into their agenda.

    such as sex education. which, if you are familiar enough with the modus operandi of Focus on the Family, is the numero uno battleground. i will bet everything i have on me, including my underwear, that if they stay in power they will try to shift sex ed. into their territory. they have already done this several times through various precedents, i.e. liberty league, and other 'organisations' backed by their lot, when they attempted to pass off themselves as secular, when really all they did was try to bring their failed science and religious bias into our schools.

    i do not, i am sorry, believe for one second that a woman who has publicly said "the greatest stress to marriage is when a woman is independent of her husband" has ANYTHING in it for her to run a woman's organisation, much less run it in a way beneficial to ALL women.

    we are against them because, unchecked, these people are not against women or against homosexuals. they are against anybody who dares carry out "lifestyles" (their word, not mine) that conflict with their definition of family: which must always fit their narrow minds. and that anything outside that has to be excluded.

    i would be against them even if the people who took over AWARE was a militant lesbian group. i would be against them even if the people who took over AWARE was rabidly feminist. and i would wager that if the AGM had been won by people who had the mettle to lead AWARE, then the old guard - people i know as acquaintances, not as friends - would have gladly shown them the way. instead civil society is up in arms for reasons that are the sum of all these parts: the methods, the aggression, the saying one thing and meaning another (see josie lau's interview on tv), the complete inability to come out and say what they stand for, who they are, their ability to (even before they have really taken office), prove that they are wonderful liars (claiming not to know each other, denying that the person counting the votes was her husband).

    this matter hasn't blown up because the old guard cried for help. who really even cared for the old guard, back then? we only answered their cry because this time they've declared war on us.

    luckily, i think what they have unwittingly done is galvanize formerly apathetic souls to the threat that we are facing from this increasingly bold and ridiculous group.
  • Frau
    Meemee, Meemee. It is incredibly painful yet amusing to read your verbal diarrhoea against D and P. If I am for the new guard, I would encourage you to talk more.

    But as it is, I am not for the new guard and so, your crazy diatribe that holds no water is cringingly embarrassing. 'So what if what we are doing is similar?' OH GAWD. With that line, you have proved beyond all doubt what a dumb cow you are.

    Do us all a favour and take a leaf out of this blog owner's book. Study comment 16 and how coherent and well argued her points are. If you are not as eloquent as she is, no problem, but at least have the consciousness to shut the fuck up.

    And that goes out to all the other rabid people out there regardless of your sexual orientation. ESPECIALLY if you are a lesbian or homosexual. Do you really want to hand the new guard another handle against you?

    Yes, pun intended.
  • @Frau: Your opinions are yours and no one can question them as long as it is not intended to hurt someone, however asking someone to shut up is not something you have the right to do, i believe. Everyone is entitled to voice their opinions, regardless how useless or dumb they might be. That's how democracy works, like it or not.

    Personally, i think adri's comments are well placed and well argued on comment# 16. In plain english she does not want anyone who is biased on any agenda, be it left or right winged to have control of AWARE. If you cannot read this and understand this, i guess you are the one who could look smart with some silence.
  • @Frau: Your frothing doesn't make you look much better than the people you condemn

    Whatever your cause, if you get too extreme and emotional you go bonkers (see: people who made death threats against the new AWARE committee)
  • I
    Actually the old guards were not voted out "legally", it was technically a "coup" operation by Dr. Thio Su Mien. She is the real mastermind behind this, as mentioned by her in the ST today - 24th April, 2009

    Somehow it's the discrimination against homosexuals and gays that started this unhappiness

    How can a ladies group be fair if they discriminate females who are gays and homosexual? Feel more like a religious group talking rather than a Ladies Rights Group
  • What was so illegal about this operation?!

    Sneaky, yes, but it was all done according to constitutional voting procedure.

    What they did afterwards might not have been legitimate, but the way got in certainly was.

    And frankly I don't see the necessary link between feminism and LGBTQ. You might as well say feminists must be against all forms of discrimination.
  • @Agagooga: You are 100% on the spot. Feminism is about being against all sorts of discrimination. Talking against LGBT is discrimination. Obviously, feminists need to be against this cuz its blatant discrimination against somebody for a reason that does not hold any scientific or logical/social justification.

    Just because you go by the rule on something don't mean something can be right. For example, in india traffic signs are poorly maintained and no parking symbols are often erazed by people sticking bills on them indiscriminately.

    Assuming im aware of a place being a no parking zone yet i park my vehicle there simply because the no parking display was covered by some bills of a piles treatment hospital, technically im not committing a traffic offense. However im still using the loophole in the system to knowingly commit an offense that i know i should not commit in the first place since its illegal.

    Did i make sense? I hope i did :-S
  • If feminism is against all forms of discrimination, then it loses its meaning and identity. Might as well just abolish the label 'feminist' and call yourself 'liberal', 'progressive' or what not. You also open yourself up to paradoxes and contradictions as you can have people with diametrically opposing views both claiming to be 'feminist'.

    The no parking sign being covered did not make parking there legal, so the analogy is wrong.
  • @Agagooga: I apologize. I must have been more specific. Feminism is about being against discrimination against all sorts but acting out, actively against the ones that affect women in particular. For example i consider myself to be liberal. That does not mean that im not against tax evasion. I'm against that too but i may just not have the time, interest/enthusiasm to act out against or campaign against it as i do against religious fundamentalism and religious discrimination.
  • @Agagooga: Yes it did. If i genuinely did not know already before hand that it was a No Parking area and if the No Parking display is covered with bills and is not visible at all then my parking is absolutely legal there because the the government had failed to resolve the communication issue there about parking but not cleaning the defective traffic display.
  • I believe ignorance is not an excuse where breaking the law is concerned.

    In any case, it's not like the new AWARE people stormed in in ignorance of the constitution. They had the constitution firmly in mind when planning the electoral takeover. In fact I'm sure they studied it very carefully (probably with the legal aid of their 'feminist mentor')

    You can say that their actions are against the spirit of AWARE, but not that their takeover was illegal.
  • @Agagooga: If you are intending to possibly use (speak against Lesbians) a medium (in this case AWARE) against its original organizational goals (equality for all women) but do it in such a way that as per the books its all right, i fail to understand how this becomes justifiable. Sure it may not be classified as crime but is this done with the right intentions to help some one? I'm afraid its probably not.

    Its like when the traffic cop gives me a bill for parking in a no parking zone, i pretend in the classic "but there is no display here on the board, so i didn't know!" kind of way to get away from crime despite being perfectly aware of what im doing.

    Using a loophole in a system to bypass conviction of an action, that would otherwise be unlawful is indeed a crime by itself, i think.
  • "Feminism is about being against discrimination against all sorts but acting out, actively against the ones that affect women in particular"

    Like that any non-exclusively male cause is feminist.

    Even if you believe femina sum, feminae nihil a me alienum puto, equating anything that can affect women (even if it's not linked to their being women) to feminism is ridiculous.
  • In that case, the operation was legal, but what was done after the operation was not.
  • @Dilip: Unfortunately for me, my own personal beliefs place me against homosexuality and lesbianism so I'm not sure if my words here will be seen as credible. But hopefully I can make an objective argument.

    I think we're greatly lacking in information. You're right in saying that AWARE's mission is to promote gender equality (with the perceived inequality at the moment being in favour of males). I don't, however, see how that necessitates promoting lesbianism, *assuming* that Thio Su Mein's accusations of the old AWARE being pro-lesbianism are true. (That's a big assumption to make, and I don't claim to know what's been going on here. I'm just going by the information we've been given in the recent reports.)

    As far as I can tell, the new guard took over as a (possibly kneejerk) response to what they saw as AWARE going off the track it should've been on. Perhaps they felt AWARE should, at the very most, remain neutral on homosexual issues, rather than openly take a side. It could just as easily have been a different issue other than lesbianism; the point they claim to be making is that they felt that the old guard was not staying on AWARE's path. And again, as far as I can tell, since taking over they have not made any statements about homosexuality or made it a hot topic, except when asked specifically about it. I don't think it's their intention to use AWARE to *speak out* against lesbianism, rather it's their intention to prevent AWARE from being used to promote lesbianism. There's a subtle difference.

    Of course, it's still entirely possible that that was their intent all along and that they would be much more aggressive about a potential anti-homosexual agenda now if they had not been exposed in this manner. But I do feel it's just too early to judge their intent in this. There's simply not enough information floating around.
  • I don't think it's too early to judge anymore. Darth Sidious has emerged from the shadows. With a claim that being neutral to homosexuality means promoting it. Har?!

    Furthermore, see comment 16 about how, LGBT aside, the new AWARE is a bad idea.
  • @Agagooga: I don't understand non english language qoute you just wrote. Could you please translate that and put it for me in plain english.

    Nevertheles, just looked this up on wiki and it says "Feminism is the belief that women should have political, social, sexual, intellectual and economic rights equal to those of men."

    What exactly do you think feminism is and what it is not?
  • @ketsugi: Yes. I completely agree that the info available is inadequate. We are merely making judgments based on previous experience and past case history, or that's what i feel from hearing and seeing what i see here in Singapore. I could be wrong though since i don't live here, although im here frequently almost every month for about a week.

    See, the point about promoting lesbianism is kind of absurd and funny to me. Its Impossible to promote lesbianism or homosexuality to anyone. Sexual preference is completely biological in nature and no amount of motivation will make you engage in acts of intimacy with someone of the same sex. This has been proved beyond doubt so i find it funny how people who are against lesbians and gays are so ridiculously scared that everyone will get "converted" to being gay or lesbian. Gays and Lesbians are not christians or muslims to believe in converting the infidel heterosexuals or otherwise the god of genitals may torture them in fire forever, lol!

    Of course, when one reads a book written several 1000's of years ago by men living in caves and having child wives and concubines, its quite possible to make such mistakes and have grave misunderstanding/misinterpretation of facts.

    I'm straight, give me a million dollars and i would not sleep with another man. I'd rather be homeless yet, get laid to fine women than be a millionaire and be forced to make love to people of the same sex. It can work the other way too. If i was gay then id rather be happy with whom i will be happy with, a man.

    This whole premise of Promoting homosexuality is clearly bogus and hopelessly hypocritical. There is no way to convert anyone to any sexual orientation. That just is not happening. People have tried (read as american chruch groups)to convert gays to being straight and have miserably failed.
  • Actually sexual preference, in women at least, is not totally immutable. Amusingly, one feminist said feminism made her a lesbian, hurr hurr.

    And are you sure no lesbians and gays try to convert? Some straight people try to convert homosexuals, but the reverse also holds true.
  • "I am a woman. Nothing concerning women is alien to me"

    Feminism is exactly that.
  • Though actually feminism is supposed to be all-inclusive, so one definition I came across proposed that anyone who thinks about women's issues should be labelled feminist.
  • Does Playboy count as women's issues?
  • ybrama
    ouchh.. i just got to know that the registration for EGM is closed already (by 22 Apr it seems). Anyone has clue whether or not we can still validly register for the EGM?

    my stand is equal rights for everyone in everything, that includes women rights, homosexsuals rights, transgenders rights, and religions should have nothing to do to prevent it to happen.
  • @Kestugi: Nice Approach in bringing up a point that has nothing to do with the discussion. May i ask how playboy discriminates people in the basis of their sexual orientation or gender. How exactly does playboy being a women's issue has to do anything with what's happening with AWARE?
  • Oh come on, lighten up.

    Not everything has to be dead serious.
  • You terrorists always make yourselves out to be the victims, despite evidence to the contrary. But then, I would be very surprised if you didn't.

    http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking+News/Singa...
  • One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.
  • Oh come on. Don't make it sound as if we have exclusive dibs on 'terrorism'.

    Every side has its fair share of nuts.
    See Westboro Methodist and their senseless, godless picketing, for example.

    If Those People throw hissy fits at us having movie screenings and picnics in the park (true story); and want to exterminate our very existence. Not defending death threats to anybody - but surely you can see how some people are going to.. Overreact :)

    If they want to declare war and out themselves out like that, then they've signed up to be in the public spotlight. And should stop behaving like maligned babies.
  • Frau
    to agagooga: ok point noted. can't help it. stupidity makes me break out in mental hives.

    as for Dilip Muralidaran, guess your own 'pearl of wisdom' will work better for yourself. comment after comment and you fail to make a valid point. the more you try to appear intelligent, the more it backfires.
  • Where is sieteocho?
    Dilip Muralidaran May wrote

    May i ask how playboy discriminates people in the basis of their sexual orientation or gender. How exactly does playboy being a women’s issue has to do anything with what’s happening with AWARE?


    Playboy got no BBW lesbians.

    Playboy got no BBW transgendered women.

    This is gender-cum-weight-cum-sexual-orientation discrimination.

    Old Exco and New Exco not doing anything about both.

    They have lost focus.

    Lose the Old Exco because they totally ignored the issue of weight discrimination facing overweight women (which they face on a daily basis on newspapers in Singapore. E.g. endless weight loss advertisements).

    Lose the New Exco because if they get in power, Yuri and awesome screen kisses like those between Lucy Liu and Calista Flockhart will be banned from Singapore.

    Lose the whole lot of them for all being fat a55es.

    Both sides declare new blood is needed.

    Let a new team of hawt, young, sweet things rule instead.


    Upcoming AWARE resolution May 3rd, 2009

    Female Singaporean Citizens and PRs to serve NS after JC and Poly by perfecting their skills in pole-dancing and discharging their obligations in SAF Music & Drama Company.
  • @Frau: I appreciate the comment on me failing to make a point but what point do you make to prove that i failed to make a point.
  • C
    No matter how wrong the old or new exco are, i wonder if it justifies what u said. As a fellow christian, i am simply grieved to see you easily write hateful things to bash up your own family in Christ, and urging others to do likewise with ur language. I don't know if u can feel His heart, but His spirit is deeply saddened as well. He has given u a wonderful gift of writing, and ur words are powerful, but all ur words brought here is bitterness and death to things u don't fully understand. I am simply saddened.
  • Where is sieteocho?
    C = Vicar of Christ?

    Benedict XVI?

    Is that you?

    You speak for God, I presume?

    Please present your credentials (e.g. part the Malacca Straits or resurrect J. B. Jayaratnam).
  • josie_la.moche.putain
    Frau says:

    April 26th, 2009 at 8:05 am (#)


    as for Dilip Muralidaran, guess your own ‘pearl of wisdom’ will work better for yourself. comment after comment and you fail to make a valid point. the more you try to appear intelligent, the more it backfires."


    But I've checked Dilip Muralidaran's comment above yrs & it's written in clear, plain English, so I completely get what he's trying to say...so perhaps you had some problem with yr English comphrehension?? To put it very, very simply for you: a person's sexual orientation CANNOT be changed. And he uses his own example as a 100% heterosexal guy to make this point: he'd rather be poor than be paid a million dollars to sleep with a MAN. Ditto for a gay guy/ lesbian woman: all the wealth in the world CANNOT get them to bed the opposite sex. Then let's not forget the bisexuals: they're open to both sexes, & transgendered people? That's why sexuality is too complex a spectrum to discriminate against.
  • Ben
    I'm wondering what the big issue is here.

    So yes, they are now standing up for what they think is right. I'm appalled by all the controversy mainly because for some obscure reason, the church is dragged in.

    So yes, homosexuals get a chance to voice their views on how they need to be freed from the stereotypes and chains of society. I would think that equality and justice would just simply mean that those who believe that it is against nature get their chance at denouncing it too.

    Granted, that AWARE being designed to stand up for all women regardless of race, creed sexuality, height, weight and intelligence level should not act on anti homosexual sentiments. But I do not see how they have done anything in direct persecution to homosexuals.

    Furthermore, by any stretch of my imagination at least, what they have done is 100% legal, bestowed upon by whatever constitutional rights may be.

    Its amazing how the initial post talks about freedom, but yet tries to bind the freedom of thought speech and action of the newly elected committee.

    Important things to note would also be. The committee isn't the church, they are individuals. Furthermore, I would like anyone to try to even argue the how homosexuality is natural and why shouldn't people be allowed to denounce the freedom to sexual deviation. In fact, I think anyone would be hard-pressed to find natural birth through the union of homosexuality.

    But that is my small digression. The simple fact of the matter here is. What you seek aware to do is to sit on the fence with issues that affect women. Is it not in their responsibility to educate the ignorant? I obviously think homosexuality is wrong. I don't persecute it, I embrace it as part and parcel of mankind's inherent need for moral degradation and self delusion. However, I don't see how involvement of AWARE in trying to tell young women what sexuality is, becomes fundamentally Christian. Isn't it merely the stand of individuals? I am 100% sure you'll find non-christian women equally willing to take up the role of the leadership in AWARE and hardlining for the education against the homosexual movement.

    So lets face it. This isn't about AWARE making a stand against homosexuality. It also isn't about AWARE digressing from their purpose and mission. The central issue is that AWARE rubs against the grains of the need to be hedonistic.

    Personally, I say let the exco do what they think to be right. I say, if there's a problem vote them out legally. I say that if you feel like AWARE isn't a place to be anymore. Then just leave and start another society and hardline equal rights. But I just think its awfully ridiculous that whilst we seek AWARE to represent the rights of all women, we also seek for them to repress the rights that these women at the helm of leadership have to make a choice to stand against what they believe to be wrong.
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