A 61-year-old retired general practitioner in Singapore has filed a legal action against the government to end the country’s ban on gay sex.
Dr. Roy Tan, a local activist for LGBTQ rights and one of the former founders of the Pink Dot festival, filed his action last weekend.
Section 377A of the Singapore Penal Code criminalizes acts of ‘gross indecency’ between men with a penalty of up to two years imprisonment. Tan calls the Colonial-era law, “A relic of the Victorian age.”
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Tan says the archaic law suggests gross indecency can only take place between two men when acts of gross indecency can also take place between two women or a man and a woman. Because of this, it should be ruled unconstitutional and dropped.
He also points to a discrepancy between the police being obliged to investigate all complaints made relating to 377A and the public prosecutor using its discretion not to prosecute those acts conducted in private. He says this causes gay men unnecessary distress.
Singapore has been under increasing pressure to review its criminalization of gay sex in recent years. This has ramped up since the Supreme Court in India dropped the country’s gay sex ban last year.
Getting countries to drop their laws against gay sex either involves governments voting in new laws, or the highest courts in the land decreeing old laws to be unconstitutional or obsolete.
It’s the latter method that many activists around the world are pursuing in places such as Jamaica and Singapore.
Since India decriminalized gay sex last year, two other men have filed action against the Singapore government.
Local DJ, Johnson Ong, also known as Big Kid, launched an action in September. LGBTQ rights advocate Bryan Choong filed another last November.
The court has yet to rule on any of the challenges. Tan tells Queerty a pre-trial conference for his challenge has been set for October 8, 2019. When the High Court then issues a ruling is unknown. It could be within months or more than a year.
In a statement, Tan says, “This anachronistic law adversely affects the lives of gay men. By institutionalizing discrimination, it alienates them from having a sense of belonging and purposeful place in our society, and prevents them from taking pride in Singapore’s achievements.”
“On a personal and professional level, I am extremely concerned about the mental and physical health aspects of retaining Section 377A.
“In my practice, I regularly see how the law can adversely impact the mental health of LGBT people, who frequently present with depression, social isolation, and even suicidal tendencies.”
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Speaking to Queerty, Tan said, “I feel frustrated, dejected and somewhat angry that our government and courts have refused to repeal this archaic law even as many other Commonwealth countries who, like us, inherited anti-gay laws from the Indian Penal Code drafted by the British during colonial times, have already done so.”
He said Singapore’s Religious right “wields influence out of proportion to its numbers”, and many Singaporeans remain conservative in their attitudes.
“If the government were to take the lead, ignoring popular opinion, and reverse its stance, the populace would accordingly change its attitudes too as we are very much a top-down society when it comes to governance and mindset. ”
“Regardless of the causes, as long as Section 377A remains on the statute books, we will never give up trying to get it struck down.”
jcoberkrom
It would be nice if Singapore would enter the 21st century!
PLAYS WELL WITH OTHERS
Agreed! It would also be nice if the vile pukes in this country would stop obsessing over what we do in our bedrooms….
HaydenMurphy1260
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Bob LaBlah
When you look up one day and see that a particular group has transformed from a ragtag borderline mob into an organization that has an influential leader that means you now have a problem on your hands. Regardless of whether on the left or the right what bothers politicians is the voting block that gays represent in a democracy. If you have a situation where they have enough votes, organization and money to hold up any proposed legislation they have become a threat to the order of the day and must be repressed at all costs. The powers that be in Singapore should look at the American way of dealing with it which is to divide them (enter the Log Cabin Republicans) and keep their battles amongst themselves public. Strong armed repression as in jailing people is no longer required.
karl schroeder
Part of the job of a democratic government is to lead public opinion for the benefit of the whole society. The article correctly points out that nothing will change before the law is changed. Singaporean society has been led by paternalistic governments since independence from the United Kingdom. While this has had many beneficial effects, the reality is that the country has fallen behind many other countries in terms of issues like gay rights. Surely the time has come to correct this anomaly? If thy can do it in India why not Singapore?
Frank McGinness
I once worked for a environmental company that hired me coming in on the minority ticket – GAY. I was picked to set up pilot plants In Singapore. I flatly refused just because they hate gays and have laws to back it up. Who wants to honor this and leave San Francisco to be amongst such crap.