A school counsellor in Singapore has been suspended from teaching students following a bigoted and homophobic lesson in which he accused gay people of having “intestinal worms.”
The Hwa Chong Institution (HCI) counsellor’s presentation drew widespread criticism and condemnation, resulting in his suspension after it was uploaded online.
According to reports by The Straits Times, the counsellor delivered the speech to the school’s secondary four cohorts on 13 July and showed slides from the presentation, titled “Community Health”, with claims about how “58 per cent of homosexuals have problems with intestinal worms”.
He also alleged a proportion of gay people have sexually transmitted diseases, sexually abuse children and are perpetrators of domestic violence.
“We are aware of the incident, which took place during a presentation on sexuality, where a staff member incorporated content outside the scope of the [MOE’s] sexuality education curriculum into his slides,” the spokesperson explained.
The school’s principal, Pang Choon How, has also reportedly addressed the incident with students and reiterated that the school did not share the school counsellor’s anti-LGBTQ+ views.
Singapore currently bans homosexuality, with calls to appeal the dated legislation known as section 377A being ignored by lawmakers. As a result, the LGBTQ+ community in Singapore continue to face discrimination and stigmatization.
