Malaysia Holds Contest for Best 'Gay Prevention' Video

Malaysia has launched a contest for the best "gay prevention" video.

The Asian nation's health ministry accounced on its website that it will offer up the equivalent of around $1000 to the best short clip that will "prevent" same-sex attraction.

The ministry themed the contest as "Value Yourself, Healthy Lifestyle Practice," which aims to educate the public about "prevention, control and how to get help" for LGBT people. The videos must also address the "issues and consequences" of "gender confusion," reports AFP.

According to the website, participants must be between the ages of 13 and 24 to enter the compeition, which closes August. Entries will be "judged on originality, content, concept and creativity and quality production by a panel of judges."

Activists criticized the competition as evidence of Malaysia's own "confusion" about LGBT issues.

"The very fact that they lump LGBT people under a category called 'gender confusion' shows that the authorities are very much confused themselves," activst Pang Khee Teik told AFP. "It is mind-blowing that a government agency wants the whole country to be sucked into its confluence of confusion."

Lokman Hakim Sulaiman, Malaysia's deputy director-general of health, defended the contest as one that promotes a "healthy lifestyle" among young people.

"This creative video competition is purely to tap knowledge and creativity of adolescents on sexual and reproductive health related matters and does not intend to create discrimination to any particular group," he told the Straits Times.

Colonial-era sodomy laws are still enforced in the predominantly Muslim nation, which made headlines earlier this year for demanding Disney cut the "gay moment" from the live-action version of Beauty and the Beast. The entertainment company refused to do so.