After years of debate, Singapore is set to abolish the colonial-era 377A law that bans gay sex. The move will effectively make homosexuality legal in the city-state. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the decision on national television Sunday.
After India, Taiwan and Thailand, Singapore is the latest in Asia to take such a decision on LGBT rights.
Many in Singapore hailed the move, but it also came with a degree of disappointment as the PM also said the definition of marriage would remain as one between a man and a woman, since most people in Singapore are not in favour of a “drastic shift”, media reports said. This effectively means approval to gay marriage is ruled out for now.
LGBT activists called this “disappointing”.
Meanwhile, conservative group Protect Singapore is also “deeply disappointed”. They disapproved of the repeal without an assurance of “comprehensive safeguards”, BBC reported. They said the definition of heterosexual marriage should be fully enshrined in the constitution, and there should be laws banning “LGBT promotion” to children, according to the report.
‘This is the right thing to do’
Singapore, known for its conservative values, has in recent years seen a campaign calling for 377A to be repealed.
According to reports, the government had earlier considered retaining the law but enforcing it so as to appease both sides. But PM Lee said Sunday night that his government would abolish the law altogether. “…this is the right thing to do, and something that most Singaporeans will accept,” he said in his annual National Day rally speech, as quoted by news agency Reuters.
Lee also said Singaporean society, especially the young, were more accepting of gay people now, and that scrapping 377A would bring the laws in line with “current social mores, and I hope, provide some relief to gay Singaporeans”.
No date has been announced yet for repeal of Section 377A.