Happy Family

Judging from the religious orthodoxy perpetually wailing over the wholly imagined homosexual agenda with desperate calls to start rehabilitation camps and so on, it's pretty clear that this country isn't exactly a renowned bastion of homotolerance. These days with their increasingly narrow-minded world view, even a hint of liberalism is seen to be a bad thing.

Nonetheless even with such ludicrous restrictions from the all-knowing clergy, the common people persevere. Perhaps their parochial prejudice has even driven the rest of the people in the other direction towards tolerance and liberalism.

Well, we can always hope.

Especially when surprisingly simple yet subversive items like that crop up every once in a while to remind you that things do get better. Just take a look at a recent primary school workbook with a sketch of the family tree. Simple enough homework to note down the familial relationships in the typical nuclear family.

Except there's nothing very typical about this family. Though my friends already offered some hints, it actually took me quite a while to see it but if you look closely you'll find two boys finding true love amongst the ruins.

Check out an example of the harmonious family in wonderfully progressive Malaysia

Harmonious family indeed!

Now whoever said our country isn't at all progressive? Neighbouring Vietnam might have beaten us to legalizing gay marriage but that seems to be already a fait accompli here, regardless of the current legal situation! Not only do we teach primary students all about gay marriages, we even have them adopting an entire passel of children, seemingly of different races. Even more shocking, one of the gay fathers seems to have come from a decidedly religious family - judging by the obvious songkoks on their respective heads.

Not sure what the hapless students are supposed to fill in on the blank spaces of course. Maybe Dad and Father? Or the colloquial Malay equivalent of Ayah and Bapa? Things apparently do get better!

So literally who's your daddy!

Obviously an unfortunate ( or would that be fortunate in our case ) error in publishing though it certainly successfully ignited the internet social media for a while with the usual tasteless jokes about gay men - though I did sense a little less homophobic vitriol of the burning pitchfork kind. Let's hope that bodes well for the future!

Hope to scour the town for a copy of the notorious workbook if I can - though I figure the much harassed publisher would hastily recover most copies after realizing their priceless mistake.