It’s no crime being different or even being gay. We should spend less time fretting over these people and go after the real criminals.

Who is the hottest woman in the world?

I’m sure everyone will have an opinion, what with beauty being in the eye of the beholder, and all that.

But if marriage proposals are any indicator, the most sought after woman now is likely to be Gigi Chao, the daughter of a playboy Hong Kong tycoon who has offered RM200mil to anyone who will woo and marry her.

Her Facebook account, it seems, is bursting with guys lining up to marry her. And guess what, she’s no hot babe in the mould of Paris Hilton and her jolly gang. Like her father, she likes women. But that’s not dissuading the hopefuls.

Well-loved: Transsexuals mourning the death of Asha Amma at Jalan Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur, in this file photo.

Being gay, or lesbian, obviously is no big deal, then.

John Travolta, meanwhile, is said to have lost a chance to act as a mafia don after allegations surfaced that he had had an affair with another man.

Meanwhile, the actor himself was out with his wife showing off his muscular body in jeans, a hat and a dark T-shirt.

No V-neck T-shirts, mind you, or sleeveless stuff or see-through clothes. Or light-coloured clothing which are supposed to set off alarm bells, according to some people who held a seminar in Penang to enlighten those of us who thought gay people looked just like the rest of us.

And it was his wife who was carrying the big bag.

Honestly, I think we in Malaysia spend too much time on quite inconsequential things.

A team from The Star was in Bangkok the last few days. Gays were everywhere – on the streets, in the malls, in the temples – and no one batted an eyelid. In Malaysia, too, there are many good people who just happen to be “different”.

Remember Asha Amma?

She died recently and transsexuals from Singapore and as far away as Australia jammed the streets, shed tears and mourned their loss.

Their grief was overwhelming.

Hers must have been a life well lived. For she died well loved.

Never mind that she had been born with a man’s body and needed surgery to find her real self.

Many of those who were under her wings say the stigma surrounding gays now is actually the result of a society that refuses to accept them for what they are.

Society is changing, though. Some of these people are now employed in pubs and bars – as dancers.

In some places, they are like the dangdut dancers of old – they dance with the patrons. In others, they actually hold dance performances, both traditional and modern. And they are quite good at it.

There’s no hanky-panky and none of the vice that many people associate with gay people.

By the way, California has just banned “gay conversion therapy” purportedly to make people straight. The therapy, it seems, just drives them to depression and suicide. So much for trying to help.

My point is: being gay, or lesbian, or just different is no crime. We should spend less time getting hot under the collar about these people and go after the real criminals.

While the authorities are still trying to convince people that the country is much safer now and trying to correct “wrong perceptions”, there are many guys out there running around with guns. Guns! Where are these things coming from? Does anyone know?

Yesterday, five men armed with pistols robbed a security van of RM1mil. The van was later found burnt at Jalan Tiong off Jalan Eng Ann in Klang.

A couple of cops were also shot a week ago. That’s how brazen they are. And just hours earlier, a security guard was gunned down in a jewellery shop robbery.

That guard was a friend, someone I had known for years. He was a familiar face in Petaling Jaya’s Old Town, a friendly face who had a ready smile for anyone who walked past.

You could just go up to him and chat, and he would willingly chat. Not for him the glum, angry look that many guards wear. Maybe it was just the fact that nothing had happened in the 20-odd years of working there.

He let his guard down and was senselessly killed, shot dead point-blank.

I am glad the cops have got one of those who shot the policemen and nabbed the others.

I do hope they will also go after those who shot the security guard and ensure they get the harshest possible punishment.

There are many more out there, believing themselves to be “macho” men who can rob, hurt, maim or kill anyone with impunity.

Guess what, I will take an effeminate guy over these “macho” dirtbags any time.

> The writer is as straight as an arrow but has no problems with people being different. It’s just like cigarettes. The writer does not smoke but has no problems with smokers – so long as they blow their smoke elsewhere.

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