Singapore to End Colonial-Era Ban on Sex Between Men But Concerns Remain High Over LGBTQ Rights
21:59 GMT 22.08.2022 (Updated: 22:24 GMT 22.08.2022)
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The move to abolish 377A—a colonial-era law banning sex between men—comes after an attempt in February of 2022 by Singapore’s government to take an impartial stance on the rights of gay people, by both promising to not enforce the law while also refusing to appeal it.
The law was first written in 1938 under British colonial rule, and does not apply to women. Even after Singapore won its independence from Britain in 1965, it continued to uphold the law.
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced on Sunday that the government would scrap Section 377A of the penal code, which criminalizes sex between men. The announcement to repeal the law banning gay sex did not come without a conservative warning from the prime minister.
"Gay people are now better accepted in Singapore, especially among younger Singaporeans. The government will repeal Section 377A and decriminalize sex between men. I believe this is the right thing to do, and something that most Singaporeans will now accept," said Loong.
“Even as we repeal 377A, we will uphold and safeguard the institution of marriage. Under the law, only marriages between one man and one woman are recognized in Singapore,” the prime minister said, assuring conservative Singaporeans of the government’s unchanging stance on marriage and childrearing.
“Let me reassure everyone that in handling the issue, the government will continue to uphold families as the basic building blocks of society,” he said. “We will keep our policies on family and marriage unchanged and maintain the prevailing norms and social values of our society.”
Singapore’s gay community has been fighting for years to repeal the law, because despite it not having been enforced for the past 15 years, many LGBTQ advocacy groups have argued that 377A has encouraged discrimination and stigmas against gay people in schools, workplaces, health care, across the media and in other sections of Singaporean society.
Rights for the LGBTQ community in Southeast Asia have been growing slowly. A majority of the region is made up of those with traditional and conservative values. China, India, and Indonesia for instance have decriminalized gay sex, but have not legalized gay marriage. In fact, none of the 11 counties that make up Southeast Asia currently allow gay marriage.
Advocates for LGBTQ rights responded to the repeal with a mixture of excitement, relief and apprehension over a possible pushback against the advancement of their rights.
"We finally did it, and we're ecstatic that this discriminatory, antiquated law is finally going to be off the books. There's a sense that maybe it took a little too long, but it had to happen, you know. Today we are very, very happy," gay activist Johnson Ong told the BBC.
LGBTQ activists also responded with disappointment concerning Loong’s proposal to amend the constitution so marriage between gay couples would, essentially, be legally impossible. Activists warn that the proposed amendment would further discriminate against LGBTQ groups.
“We urge the government not to heed recent calls from religious conservatives to enshrine the definition of marriage into the Constitution,” the groups said. “Such a decision will undermine the secular character of our Constitution, codify further discrimination into supreme law and tie the hands of future Parliaments.”
“Every group must accept that it cannot get everything it wants because it is simply not possible,” Loong said in his speech promising to end the ban on gay sex while assuring his conservative constituents that marriage in Singapore would only be possible for straight couples. “And we must maintain the mutual respect and trust that we have painstakingly built up over the years and stay united as one people.”
Section 377A carried with it a two-year prison sentence for any man who engaged with another man in “any act of gross indecency.” Loong admitted that a court case brought by three men this year who challenged the law helped put pressure on the government to repeal 377A.
