Is a cold contagious? Yes. Are herpes contagious? Unfortunately. What about sexuality?…what? Then why are ‘gay’ words, images and allusions being censored around the world? Everyone knows gays exist, everyone hopes the boogeyman doesn’t exist, yet we treat them both as if they are the same.

MTV Asia are quick to edit any music videos or lyrics that have any gay themes at all. In Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’, a man-on-man kiss falls to the chopping room floor, and in Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way’ (yes, they tried to remove the gay from Gaga) the lyrics “no matter gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgendered life” is cut and replaced within uncomfortable repeat of the preceeding lyrics.

What do the Asian Entertainment Police hope to achieve with these kinds of actions? Do they think that if there is nothing ‘gay’ on the TV or radio, that people will forget that it is a form of sexuality and suddenly the world will be turned ‘straight’? Or is it a backward form of exclusion and hate that is as aged and outdated as racism or sexism?

Be warned ‘censorers’, gays aren’t going anywhere, but your jobs may be.