Singapore Man Asks His Gay Son To Forgive Him — In His Obituary

The passage has been shared thousands of times since the man died earlier this month.
From: NewNowNext

 A Singapore man who passed away earlier this month issued a touching and powerful statement to his gay son in his obituary, and now it’s going viral as a symbol of hope for a country at war over LGBT issues right now.

The obituary for Ong Peck Lye, published in the Straits Times on Friday, was written by the man’s second son as a tribute to his life. It details the complicated relationships the man had with each member of his family and, at one point, asks for forgiveness from the gay son he kicked out and became estranged from years ago.

“My son who dared stand up against me, stood up for me,” it reads. “My sons, I wished they forgave me, as I forgave them for not forgiving me.”

Thousands of people who shared the obit on Facebook also pointed to the list of names displayed at the top — members of Lye’s family which included “my baby son” and his husband, “[my] son-in-law.”

Ong Tiong Hou, Lye’s son who authored the passage, said it was based on conversations he had with his father shortly before his death. In an interview with the paper, he indicated his father had kicked his younger brother out of the house years ago after he came out as gay.

The inspiring message comes amid tensions between Singapore’s LGBT community and the state government, which censors gay material in public spaces and, more recently, tried to shut down the country’s only LGBT Pride event by banning international companies from sponsoring it.