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Singapore’s Supreme Court Dismisses Challenge to 1938 Gay Sex Law

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Singapore, Gay Sex, Supreme Court

Singapore’s Supreme court has dismissed a challenge by three gay rights activists against a law criminalizing sex between men. The court ruled that the plaintiff’s constitutional rights were not violated because the law was not enforced.

The Supreme Court ruling stems from activists’ emboldened efforts to eliminate the law enacted during the colonial era after India abolished a similar law four years ago. Both of the previous challenges in 2020 and 2014 failed in the socially conservative city-state.

One of the activists who challenged the rarely used law, under which offenders can be jailed for two years, is a retired doctor, one of the activists is a DJ, and one of them is a former director of a non-profit.

Singapore’s Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon said in a written judgment that despite the law, known as Section 377A, having “long served as a lightning rod for polarization,” the court did not find a breach of the constitution.

Justice Menon said the law would not be enforceable because Singapore authorities did not prosecute gay sex and so an individual’s right to life or liberty under article 7 of Singapore’s constitution was not deprived.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers has said such prosecutions are not in the public interest.

Homophobia in Singapore

Law firm Eugene Thuraisingam LLP, which represents one of the activists, says the ruling is “a small step in the right direction” after the court noted the law was unenforceable.

According to Tea Braun, chief executive of the rights group Human Dignity Trust based in London, the 1938 law “has no place in a 21st-century democracy like Singapore”.

Even though the threat of arrest has been removed and formalized by the Supreme Court, gay and bisexual men remain effectively unapprehended criminals.

Braun said, they still suffer from a culture of shame and homophobia.

Gay sex is still illegal in nearly 70 countries worldwide, mostly in Africa and the Middle East

Despite polls showing a broader acceptance of homosexuality, the issue remains a sensitive topic in a highly conservative country.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong described it as an “uneasy compromise” because society “isn’t that liberal in these matters”.

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