The majority of Malaysians are open to tenants from the LGB community.
Image by Andrew Martin from Pixabay.
While news articles describe a hellish existence for members of the LGBTQ community in Malaysia, a surprising proportion of Facebook users polled appear to hold more liberal attitudes regarding sexual identity – at least, in contrast to ethnicity.
The Findings
An opinion survey conducted by the Pew Research Centre in 2013 revealed that only 9% of the Malaysian population was accepting of members of the LGB community, while the overwhelming majority (86%) responded negatively.
A poll conducted on the StarProperty.my Facebook page in March of 2019 showed that most Malaysians feel property owners should not discriminate against LGB tenants.
Should landlords care about the sexual orientations of their tenants?
Only 27% of Facebook users agreed with the statement that sexual identity discrimination made sense in the room rental landscape (“Yes, that makes sense”) – while the majority (73%) of Facebook users polled expressed disagreement with the statement and chose the response “No, let people be.”
Unlike the results of our previous Facebook poll regarding ethnicity – which showed that most Malaysians are supportive of racial discrimination in the room rental landscape – sexual identity is apparently perceived to have little to no negative effect on the relationships between property owners and tenants.
The Reality
Despite the positive results of this most recent poll, there is an unspoken need felt by some members of the LGB community to modify their behaviour in public – especially when visiting rental listings and meeting property owners – so as not to express their sexual identity and invite criticism or rejections by prospective landlords and tenants.
Some members of the LGB community were interviewed and reported experiencing no personal difficulty when visiting rental listings, but they conceded having to modify their behaviour when in public. One of our interviewees, Andre, said, “In Malaysia, you generally have to.”
In response to the question of whether they felt safe viewing a rental listing with their partners, another of our interviewees, Samuel, admitted to feeling wary of meeting property owners with his partner, saying, “I wouldn’t feel safe and would be very conscious of how their personal beliefs would make them view me differently.”
Photo by Robert V. Ruggiero on Unsplash.
In response to the question of whether he felt the need to modify his behaviour when viewing a rental listing, Samuel said, “I do not drastically modify my behaviour because I'm quite ‘straight-acting’ anyway, but I would be very conscious of how my behaviour could cause a negative reaction.”
Our interviewees pointed out that Malaysian society is significantly more matured and progressive in areas such as Bangsar, Damansara, and Kuala Lumpur, while areas outside of the urban centre are still seen to be conservative – but as Andre says, “In any country, it’s about how you present yourself. Treat people normally and you won’t get any trouble.”
Property owners interviewed for this article expressed little opinion regarding the sexual identity of their prospective tenants – especially if the properties were located in central areas of the Klang Valley, if the listings were advertised as being for expatriates, and if there were no other tenants whose opinions needed to be considered.
Negotiators are largely welcoming of any prospective tenant – and are perfectly willing to avoid any discussion of sexual identity – if there is a possibility of an entire unit being rented by a single tenant, there was little interest in the tenant’s private life.
While our interviewees and the results of our most recent Facebook poll paint a picture of a society that is relatively progressive and tolerant of the LGB community, there are signs indicating an underlying adherence to patriarchal tradition that may require more time to mature.
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