NOT all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people have mental illnesses, said Deputy Health Minister Lee Boon Chye.

The PKR lawmaker said they instead have “aberrations” that should not be viewed as a disease. 

“About the LGBT community, not all of them have mental illnesses. A large part of the LGBT community have organic illnesses, in terms of hormones or something physical in the brain… which causes them to be that way.

“It is not an illness but an aberration from what we normally see,” Lee told the Dewan Rakyat today. 

The Gopeng MP added that Malaysians should not treat LGBT differently.

“Let us not treat those in the LGBT community as people who are sick or who suffer from mental illnesses. That is an inaccurate assumption.”

He was responding to PAS’ Kuala Terengganu MP Ahmad Amzad Hashim who asked if the LGBT community had a disease that should be dealt with. 

LGBT issues came into the spotlight recently over the removal of the portraits of two activists from a photography exhibition in Penang.

The order, given by minister in charge of religion Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa, sparked furore and shows little sign of abating as more statements are issued over the challenges faced by and also demands requested by the LGBT.

Mujahid in a written parliamentary reply said the Islamic Development Department (Jakim) and internet regulator Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) were monitoring the spread of LGBT and “liberal Islam” content on social media. – August 13, 2018.