As reported yesterday, Singaporean teacher Otto Fong this weekend issued an open letter to his friends and colleagues, coming out of the closet as a gay man.  This act of pride and bravery put him at risk of dismissal in this authoritarian state where thanks to the legacy of British colonialism, homosexual acts between consenting adults are still illegal.

As the weekend progressed, there were reports that members of the school’s administration were in communication and that there was certain to be a confrontation on Monday.

Sure enough, by Monday afternoon the blog entry and its more than 120 comments of support had been removed, apparently at the prompting of the Ministry of Education.  While it appears that Otto’s job is not at risk and he has achieved his purpose of coming out to his colleagues, the Ministry said in a statement that it “does not condone any open espousal of homosexual values by teachers in any form, in or out of the classroom” as “teachers are in a unique position of authority and are often seen as role models by their students.”

The open letter and its comments have been independently posted at another site here, and there are additional reports on the matter from Singapore both here and here.

Again, I am very proud of Otto’s bravery and am glad it hasn’t landed him unemployed.  I am disappointed with the Ministry of Education’s not-very-surprising response, but this has sent a very clear and positive message to hundreds if not thousands of other Singaporeans.

It appears that there has been extensive coverage of this in the Singapore blogosphere: here, here, here, here, from a self-confessed homophobe who supports Otto nonetheless here, and from one of his former students here.