Safehaven Goes to the IRO Dinner

September 2003

By Peggy

[The IRO National Day 2003 Observance & Dinner was held on Tuesday 14 August 2003 at the Singapore Swimming Club. The guest of honour was Minister of State Mr Chan Soo Sen.]

A few weeks ago, when some members in Safehaven met up with Sister Theresa, president of the Inter-Religious Organization, she invited Safehaven to the organization’s National Day Observance & Dinner.

There were 10 of us today — Miak, Jean, Ernest, Kok Wei, Alan, Jojo, Albert, Joshua, myself and Kelvin from Heartland, an online gay Buddhist fellowship — our own gay IRO, it suddenly struck me.

Sister Theresa was at the door to greet us as we entered the ballroom of the Singapore Swimming Club. Having heard so much about her from Jean and Clarence, I was glad to finally be able to put a face to the name. She was warm and friendly, leading us to our table, making sure that we were comfortably seated.

It was the first time many of us had the opportunity to be in the same ballroom with people of different faiths: Buddhists, Taoists, Baha'i, Zoroastrians, Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Protestants, Catholics and Jews. The Taoists were wearing black robes with headgear that seemed straight out of some Chinese swordfighting serial, there were Buddhist monks with their signature shaven heads, nuns in habits, Catholic monks in the brown hooded robe and rope belt (Alan remarked that he was reminded of the movie Robin Hood), and of course the rest of us who were in contemporary attire.

Before dinner commenced, the representatives of the nine different faiths went on stage to take turns to pray. Prayers took the form of many languages; English, Hebrew, Arabic, Mandarin and others I could not recognise.

Reverend Yap Kim Hao represented the Christian community on stage. In a strong, clear voice, the Reverend prayed for tolerance and respect for each other irregardless of race, religion and sexual orientation. Yes, he actually said that. The ten of us were pleasantly surprised, we couldn't believe our ears. You can imagine the ripple of excitement that coursed through our table as the Reverend said those words. By the way, Miak and a few others will be meeting up with him for dinner tomorrow night.

It was diversity in action tonight. People from different faiths talking and interacting with one another. There was a lively 94 year old Buddhist nun who made a beeline towards Joshua because she was attracted by his shining pate and thought he was a Buddhist reverend from another temple. Some of us went over to say hi to Reverend Yap and to let him know how much we appreciated the message of his prayer. Sister Theresa came by often to chat with us and to make sure we were ok.

By the time the event was over something special had taken place. Being at the dinner tonight, each of us had quietly re-affirmed our presence as gay Christians and Buddhists to the inter-religious community at large. We have contributed to the precepts of diversity and inter-religious harmony which are some of the foundations of the Singapore society. Nothing has changed. We have been doing it all this while even before PM Goh made his landmark statements. The only thing that has changed is that Singaporeans are slowly realising that gay people are not sick or immoral or deviant. They can be the helpful colleague at work, the friendly neighbour two units down the corridor, the mahjong kaki, the person who sits next to you in church, your best buddy of ten years, your cousin, your sibling.

I end this posting with a prayer used at IRO meetings:

O Lord, increase in us understanding and knowledge and set us free from the bondage of greed, hatred and ignorance, so that we may awake, arise and advance until the goal is reached, giving our bodies to work and our minds to the Lord. May we work vigorously keeping within spiritual discipline to bring peace in our hearts, peace in our families, peace in our cities, peace in our planetary home, the world. May we learn to master ourselves, sublimate our combative energies into creative channels, and freely offer ourselves in the service of our fellowmen, and our Lord. Help us, O Lord, to ever strive to keep on these lines to promote peace on earth and goodwill among men. By Thy grace, may we all prosper. Amen.