Education Bureau | Views on homosexuality, pre-marital sex were misunderstood

Leong Vai Kei

The acting head of the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau (DSEJ) refuted media reports over the weekend that the city’s education authority refers homosexual students to doctors and psychologists for examination. She said that the media had misunderstood her position on such matters.

First published by Portuguese newspaper Ponto Final, deputy director Leong Vai Kei was reported to have made several comments regarding homosexuality and premarital sexual intercourse, viewed by many as controversial and inappropriate.

The newspaper reported that Leong had said that students who show signs of homosexuality are referred to competent authorities for a “medical examination.”

“If [a student] has evidence of this homosexuality, we refer this case to other competent authorities. If the children or the students think they are homosexual, we can transfer the case to a doctor or psychologist for a clinical examination,” she said, according to Ponto Final.

In the controversial media interview, Leong was also cited as having said that students do not have the capability to assess their own sexuality and that young women should refrain from having sexual intercourse before marriage because their future husbands might not like it.

She said that pre-marital sex was an “ethical question” for society to reconcile and on this matter the education authority follows the conservative view of Macau’s majority Chinese population.

In remarks that might be construed as sexist, Leong said: “We find that men do not like having their future wife [having had] premarital sex. […] We think this is not an appropriate act for a lady, for this lady’s body as for her psychological part. This lady will face stress and this lady’s parents will also have stress.”

The DSEJ advocates the teaching of young men and women to avoid sexual intercourse outside of marriage, and this will come through in the bureau’s recommendations on sex education, she said.

Over the weekend, the DSEJ head hit back at some media reports concerning the issue of homosexual students being referred for therapy. She claimed that the media reports were not consistent with what she had expressed, adding that language translation issues had likely been the cause of the misunderstanding.

According to All About Macau, Leong stressed that the psychological and medical examinations for homosexual students were only conducted in cases when the students are “in trouble with sex and need assistance.”

“The authorities can assist them to refer to the professionals for help, and the relevant referral is not mandatory, and no students have been required to accept referral services in the past,” she added. The DSEJ corroborated these views in a statement issued yesterday.