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Malcolm Gillies (¡°Wedding toast¡±, Opinion, 3?April) is prudent to emphasise the fact that discrimination is still alive and kicking in our universities.

However, we must remember that we live in a vibrant, multicultural, multi-ethnic, multilingual, multiracial and tolerant society where we have the right to voice our opinions without fear or trepidation. In other countries, gays and lesbians still endure unimaginable torment, racism, bigotry, discrimination and social ostracisation for no justifiable reason other than expressing their inalienable rights to freedom of opinion, expression, liberty and sexual orientation/preference.

I am not gay, but I believe that the idea of coming out in the defence of the marginalised, the downtrodden, the stigmatised, the poor and the disenfranchised in the public domain is in itself audacious and courageous. It shows the desire to spur social change on a?wider scale, especially in the midst of communities where homosexuals are depicted in diverse religious scriptures as the cursed people.

Tolerance, cross-cultural understanding, harmonious coexistence, freedom from coercion, multiculturalism and diversity are all noble principles that we all cherish and aspire to attain.

Munjed Farid Al Qutob
London