Malaysia’s ‘deviant culture’ label: Why words about LGBT people matter

Justice for Sisters is deeply alarmed by the extreme, uninformed and degrading discussion of LGBT people in the Senate recently.

Marhamah Rosli, the new Deputy Minister in the Prime Ministers Department responsible for religious affairs, announced that the government is opting to replace references to LGBT people with the term “budaya songsang” (deviant culture).

The remarks made – reflecting the long-standing discriminatory stance of the religious affairs section of the Prime Minister’s Department – represent a dangerous escalation of state-sponsored misinformation and hostility towards LGBT people.

Violation of constitutional rights

In response to a question, Marhamah, made several discriminatory and harmful remarks about LGBTQ people, in clear violation of the rights protected under the Federal Constitution and international human rights law.

Echoing her department’s position, she urged the Senate and the public to replace the term LGBT with budaya songsang (deviant culture) to prevent LGBT “normalisation”. She also encouraged the public to lodge complaints against “suspicious behaviour” – a thinly veiled call to target LGBT people.

This move aims to erase the term LGBT – an abbreviation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender – from day-to-day use, to avoid any form of contact with the term, including curation of LGBT content through social media algorithms.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender are legitimate identities related to sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression – just as heterosexual and cisgender identities are.

Global medical bodies, including the World Health Organization (WHO), have affirmed that diversity in sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics is a natural part of human variation, not deviance or pathology.

The term budaya songsang dehumanises LGBT people, fuels misinformation, and reinforces the dangerous belief that LGBT people should be ‘corrected’.

It contributes directly to violence, discrimination and violations of dignity and equality under Articles 5 and 8 of the Federal Constitution.

Increasing discrimination

A 2021 Justice for Sisters survey found that:

• 70.2% of 121 LGBTIQ respondents faced pressure or attempts by family members to change their sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression
• 23.1% experienced similar pressure from religious actors
• 14.1% (22 of 156 respondents) were forcibly sent for sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression-change services by their family

Justice for Sisters has also documented an increase in public complaints against LGBTQ people, leading to surveillance, raids and cancellation of events due to safety concerns.

Anti-LGBT remarks by politicians have severe harms: 56.4% of respondents reported increased mental health strain, and 33.6% experienced direction discrimination or violence following such statements.

A 2022 study shows mental health disorders are more than twice as prevalent among Malaysian LGBT adults than the general population (80.3% vs 29.2%).

Consistent with international human rights law, which prohibits advocacy of discriminatory hatred that incites hostility, discrimination or violence, the Prime Minister’s Department must retract these statements. 

Disinformation and harmful practices

The deputy minister also repeated disinformation about “factors” that supposedly cause LGBT identities – claims dismissed by global medical consensus – and highlighted government-led ‘correction’ programmes, including sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression-change or faith-based conversion efforts, school-based anti-LGBT initiatives, and content suppression through the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC).

In 2019, the WHO moved “gender incongruence” out of the “Mental and behavioural disorders” chapter and into the new “Conditions related to sexual health” chapter in its international classification of diseases.

This affirms that trans and gender-diverse identities are not mental illness and must be supported through gender-affirming healthcare.

The World Psychiatric Association stated unequivocally in 2016 that sexual orientation cannot be changed, and the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims has deemed conversion practices a form of deception, false advertising and fraud.

Globally, religious leaders are increasingly rejecting criminalisation and conversion practices. More than 370 religious figures representing 10 religions from 35 countries issued such a call in 2020.

The same year, the special rapporteur on freedom of religion and belief rejected any claim that religious beliefs can be invoked as a legitimate ‘justification’ for violence or discrimination against women and girls or against people on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

End discrimination

It is evident that the religious affairs section of the Prime Minister’s Department plays a central role in producing, sustaining and escalating state-sponsored discrimination and disinformation against LGBT people. We therefore call on Suhakam to:

• conduct a comprehensive human rights impact assessment on state-led activities targeting LGBTIQ people
• urgently strengthen human rights standards and frameworks of the president of the Senate, the speakers of the House of Representatives, and legislative actors to uphold the human rights of all persons, particularly marginalised populations.

– Justice for Sisters

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