Key Points
- Singapore will repeal a colonial-era law that makes sex between men illegal.
- But has no plans to change the legal definition of marriage as being between a man and a woman
LGBTIQ+ Singaporean-Australians say they can breathe a sigh of relief after the city-state's government announced it will decriminalise sex between men.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong made the announcement that the government will repeal the colonial-era law, section 377A of the penal code, at an annual National Day Rally speech on Sunday.
"I believe this is the right thing to do, and something that most Singaporeans will now accept," he said.
"This will bring the law into line with current social mores, and I hope, provide some relief to gay Singaporeans."
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has announced the penal code criminalising sexual activity between men will be scrapped. Source: AAP, AP / Evelyn Hockstein
'We honour you, we respect you'
Benjamin Oh, national convenor of Asian Australian Rainbow Alliance, said the move was welcome news for all members of the LGBTIQ+ community, irrespective if they identified as male or not.
"I think [the repealing of] the law says that, 'we honour you, we respect you'. The fact that prime minister Lee was able to say gay Singaporeans should find relief in this [repealing of the] law says a lot," he said.
"Law has a role to play to tell us what is regular, and what is good. And LGBT people have been good citizens contributing to the development of modern Singapore.
"People were hungry for this language that we are we are just fellow human beings needing to be treated with equal dignity and respect, and not be criminalised for loving who we love regardless of gender."
Mr Oh's (pictured front left) extended family have long shown their support for him and the wider LGBTIQ+ community. Source: Supplied / Benjamin Oh
"It's one thing to live with threat and violence. It's another to say that you are fully dignified and your human rights will be totally honoured," Mr Oh said.
"I think not having laws that hang as a threat to your being, that criminalises you for being in love with someone else, I think that that has ramifications to someone's life and that kind of trauma, they stay on and they're not without consequences to our lives."
Celebrating the 'simple things'
Nurul knew she was lesbian at age six but only came out to her family in a WhatsApp group chat just before she turned 50.
Born and raised in Singapore in a Muslim household, Nurul longed as a child to enjoy the "simple things" in relationships, like holding her partner's hand during a car drive.
She didn't realise how mentally harmful it was to restrict the feeling of "loving and being loved" until she left Singapore.
There, she said penal codes like section 377A had the power to compound the negative rhetoric around LGBTIQ+ people - but that time is up.
"If you grow within that culture, you get used to the idea and you just follow along, but you don't know the impact of that on your psyche until you leave," she said.
Under section 377A, offenders can be jailed for up to two years under the law, but it was not actively enforced.
As the code is set to be scrapped, Nurul described the announcement as "bittersweet" as she remembers the "brave" friends in Singapore who advocated for the law to change.
"People have decided to act on their own decency and treat the other person as another human being ... it can be hard for certain cultures like ours because of the peer pressure."
There have been no known convictions for sex between consenting adult males for decades and the law does not include sex between women or other genders.
Resistance remains to repeal the law, especially among certain religious groups including Muslims, Catholics and some Protestants, Mr Lee said.
Singapore is a highly diverse country with a population of 5.5 million, of whom about 16 per cent are Muslim, with large Buddhist and Christian communities.
It has a predominantly ethnic Chinese population with sizeable Malay and Indian minorities, according to the 2020 census.
While the penal code will be removed, Mr Lee stressed his government's continued support for the traditional definition of marriage.
"We believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, that children should be raised within such families, that the traditional family should form the basic building block of society," he said.
Singapore will "protect the definition of marriage from being challenged constitutionally in the courts", he said.
"This will help us repeal section 377A in a controlled and carefully considered way."
With AAP
