Singapore’s Supreme Court Rejects Attempt to Overturn Gay Sex Ban

SINGAPORE — (03-02-22) — Singapore’s Supreme Court dismissed a challenge by three gay rights activists to overturn the country’s Gay Sex Ban. The gay rights activists had filed their suit against a law that criminalizes sex between two men.

Singapore’s Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon used the excuse that…”Although the law, known as Section 377A, had “long been a lightning rod for polarization” the court did not find a breach of the constitution. The law was “unenforceable” because Singapore authorities do not plan to prosecute gay sex and thus would not deprive a person of the right to life or personal liberty under Article 9 of Singapore’s constitution,” said Justice Menon.

The conservative packed supreme court ruled that since authorities did not enforce the law it did not breach plaintiffs’ constitutional rights.

The Court’s anti-LGBT ruling follows emboldened efforts to get rid of the colonial-era law by activists after India scrapped similar legislation four years ago.

This was the third attempt to over turn the Gay Sex Ban. teh first was defeated by the socially conservative city-state in 2020 and then again in 2014.

The Gay Sex Ban law could see offenders be jailed for up to two years. Examples of this rarely used law include the cases of a retired doctor, a Disc Jockey and a former director for a non-profit group.

In response to the Supreme Court’s ruling, law firm Eugene Thuraisingam LLP, which represented one of the activists, said the ruling “may be seen as a small step in the right direction”.

Téa Braun, chief executive of the London-based rights group Human Dignity Trust, added that the law that was drawn up in 1938, had “no place in a 21st century democracy like Singapore.”

Although the threat of arrest has been removed and formalized by the court, “in declining to completely strike out the law criminalizing same-sex intimacy, gay and bisexual men in Singapore are still effectively un-apprehended criminals and subject to a culture of shame and homophobia”, said Braun.

The Attorney-General’s Chambers stated that such prosecutions of gay sex between two men would not be in the public interest.

The issue remains extremely controversial in Singapore, though recent polls show a greater acceptance of homosexuality.

There are 71 countries around the world that continue to criminalize gay sex and the majority of them are based in in Africa and the Middle East.

Article by: Paul Goldberg, Staff Writer

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