The Malaysian government has replaced the term “LGBT” with “deviant culture” to prevent its normalisation and limit the spread of homosexual content on social media.

Sodomy is criminalised under federal law in the Muslim-majority country and punishable by up to 20 years in jail, and Malaysia also has a parallel Sharia law system that outlaws gay and lesbian sex for Muslims in all states but one.

The move away from the LGBT acronym was announced in parliament in February by Marhamah Rosli, the Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs), who said the public should start using the term “budaya songsang” (“deviant culture”) instead.

Ms Rosli was asked by Senator Hussin Ismail in the upper house how the government was monitoring closed-door events containing “deviant elements” after a “Glamping with Pride” retreat planned by a pro-homosexual group caused controversy in January.

“To ensure the use of consistent terminology and to avoid any normalisation in speech or writing, it is urged that the term LGBT no longer be used and starting today, the term should be referred to as ‘deviant culture’,” Ms Rosli responded.

“The more we utter, write, or state [the term ‘LGBT’], the more ‘pop-out’ content related to it will appear. Without realising it, we are promoting the culture unknowingly.”

The move was criticised by homosexual advocacy group Justice for Sisters, which claimed the term “budaya songsang” “dehumanises LGBT people, fuels misinformation, and reinforces the dangerous belief that LGBT people should be ‘corrected’”.

Malaysian authorities have also been cracking down on homosexual events, and in late May arrested 51 men in a series of raids in relation to an alleged drug-fuelled “gay party” in Kuala Lumpur.

Of those arrested, 28 were foreigners and 36 tested positive for drugs, and US$26,000 worth of ketamine, MDMA, and ecstasy was seized during the raids.

Header image: A homosexual march in Malaysia (ARTICLE 19, CC BY-NC-SA 2.5)