THEGAYUK

Tag: Singapore News

Get the latest LGBT+ Singapore news from THEGAYUK. Breaking news, features and interviews from the gay community in Singapore.

  • Singapore dismisses appeal to decriminalise homosexuality

    Singapore’s High Court has dismissed a legal challenge to end a colonial-era law that criminalises sex between two consenting men, echoing another dismissal that took place in 2014.

    Gay and bi men in Singapore will, for the time being, continue to live as “un-apprehended criminals” under Section 377A after the High Court dismissed a challenge to close out a colonial-era law that outlaws “acts of ‘gross indecency’ between men”, a law that has been imposed since the British colonisation of Singapore.

    Although prosecutions are rare, any man who commits any act of ‘gross indecency’ with another man can be jailed for up to two years. This also extends to any man who abets, procures or attempts to procure such an act.

    Speaking about the decision, Director of the Human Dignity Trust (HDT), Téa Braun said, “In declining to strike out this archaic and discriminatory law, the Court has reaffirmed that all gay men in Singapore are effectively un-apprehended criminals”.

    Although Section 377A only targets gay men, activists in Singapore say that the culture of shame and homophobia it engenders casts a shadow of oppression over the whole lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans LGBT+ community.

    The challenges were mounted by Johnson Ong Ming, a 43-year-old disc jockey and producer; 42-year-old Bryan Choong Chee Hoong, the former executive director of LGBT organisation Oogachaga; and Roy Tan Seng Kee, a 61-year-old retired medical doctor.

    Against a backdrop of similar unsuccessful legal challenges in Singapore, the ruling today is particularly unwelcome, says HDT.

    Gay sex remains illegal in Singaore
    rihaij / Pixabay

    In October 2014, the Singapore Court of Appeal declined to remove the country’s anti-gay law from the statute books and held that LGBT people would have to wait for reform of Section 377A to come through Parliament. 

    Following the historic and regionally significant September 2018 Indian Supreme Court ruling that decriminalised consensual same-sex sexual activity, and increasing levels of acceptance of LGBT people amongst Singaporeans, lawyers and activists were motivated to mount a fresh challenge to the discriminatory law.

    “The ruling will also echo harmfully around Asia”

    “This decision will be extremely disappointing for the plaintiffs and the wider LGBT community in Singapore, who had great hopes that new evidence presented to the Court would make it clear that these draconian laws cannot withstand proper constitutional scrutiny. The ruling will also echo harmfully around Asia, where millions of people are criminalised simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” added Braun.

  • Les Miserables Forced To Cut Gay Kiss Scene In Singapore

    The popular musical Les Miserables faces action after a gay kiss caused complaints from the theatre goers.

    Embed from Getty Images

    The kiss happened during the song Beggars at the Feast, which was actually a short peck on the lips between two male actors. Organisers of the show said the moment had been added for comical value, yet the Media Development Authority (MDA) said it would take action as the scene hadn’t been included during the classification process.

    The show has since pulled the “kiss” following complaints. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender relationships are not recognised in Singapore. It is illegal for men to have sex with men which is punishable with up to 2 years imprisonment. Although this isn’t often enforced, legalisation has often been upheld in the courts. The LGBT community can’t adopt children nor do they have any anti-discrimination protections.

  • Singapore Rules To Keep Anti-Gay Laws In Place

    A challenge to the law that criminalises homosexuality has today been dismissed by Singapore’s highest court, meaning that it’s still a crime to be gay in the country.

    Lim Meng Suang and Kenneth Chee Mun-Leon, a gay couple brought a case against Section 377A of the Penal Code in 2012, arguing that the provision, which outlaws gay sex, infringed on their rights. After initial losses at the High Court of Singapore, Mr Suang and Mr Mun-Leon appealed, and their case was heard along with fellow appellant Mr Tan Eng Hong in July 2014.

    Private same-sex sexual activity between adults has been illegal in Singapore since 1938, with the Penal Code that the British exported.

    NOTHING WE CAN DO.
    In the written ruling, handed down today, the judges said, ‘While we understand the deeply-held personal feelings of the appellants, there is nothing that this court can do to assist them. Their remedy lies, if at all, in the legislative sphere.’

    Jonathan Cooper, Chief Executive of the London-based Human Dignity Trust, which provided technical legal assistance to support the challenge, said, ‘This decision means that every gay man living in Singapore remains an unapprehended criminal.

    ‘And the criminalisation of homosexuality does not only affect men. The culture of shame and homophobia it fosters forms a shadow of oppression over Singapore’s entire lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) community.

    ‘The decision of the Court of Appeal to maintain the country’s anti-gay law – a poisonous remnant of British colonial rule – is a great disappointment, if not a surprise.

    ‘The Singaporean Constitution does not protect basic rights such as privacy and dignity and is therefore very limited in comparison to other Commonwealth countries we work in, which show more promise for legal challenges.

    ‘There is nowhere to go from the Singaporean Court of Appeal, meaning that this judgment is final. We must now look to the Singaporean Government, where strong leadership and progressive legislative change is required to pave the only path forward for LGBTI people.

    ‘The Singaporean Government must see, as the international business community will, that archaic homophobic laws frankly have no place in a modern hub of global finance and commerce.’

    ‘The stakes are high for multinational companies with a presence in Singapore, whose gay employees are currently at risk of prosecution simply for being who they are.

    ‘Employers with a commitment to equality and diversity face a difficult dilemma.’

  • Gay Archie comic book to be banned in Singapore

    An issue of the ‘Archie’ Comic Books has been prohibited in Singapore, which features a same-sex marriage.

    Earlier in the week we reported that the ever-popular comic hero character Archie is killed in the final issue of the comic, after taking a bullet aimed at his gay best friend Kevin Keller.

    However authorities in Singapore have banned an earlier issue that featured a same-sex wedding in Archie: The Married Life Book Three.

    Male same-sex sexual activity is illegal in the Southeast Asian republic – although it is reported that the law is not generally enforced. Those convicted of male on male sexual activity could face up to two years in prison, fines or even canning.

    Archie: The Married Life Book Three has been taken off the shelves following a complaint to the Media Development Authority, which found it not to conform with ‘social norms’ and ‘breached their content guidelines’, reports Reuters.

    Three other books have been banned in Singapore over gay story lines, which include: And Tango Makes Three, which is a story inspired by two real life male penguins, who raise a chick in Central Park. The White Swan Express: A Story About Adoption, a book that focuses on a lesbian couple’s adoption story and Who’s In My Family: All About Our Families, which looks at different family groups.