- The government on Sunday legalized gay sex that is between man and man in the country. However, marriage legal laws remained unaltered.
- Singapore, the sovereign island country will only legalize marriage- between a man and a woman in the country.
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong proclaimed on Sunday that the country would soon legitimize the sex between men in the country.
The colonial era law which had earlier disallowed it in the country would be repealed to decriminalise it, PM Loong said. With this, the country would step a step forward in the direction of acceptance of homosexuality in the country, he added.
During the Annual Day National rally speech, he said, “I believe this is the right thing to do, and something that most Singaporeans will now accept”. With this, the country would repeal the ban which was prevalent in the form of Section 377A of the Penal Code.
Alterations in Gay-sex however, marriage legal law remains unchanged
The government shared a belief that the state’s society, predominantly young people is becoming more accepting of gay people now. However, further also added that they had no intent in altering the state’s legal definition of marriage historically prevalent.
The sovereign island country will still legalise only marriage – that is between a man and a woman.
“Even as we repeal Section 377A, we will uphold and safeguard the institution of marriage… Under the law, only marriages between one man and one woman are recognized in Singapore, PM Lee added.
Singapore joins the Group of Countries
Though it’s uncertain when the law will be repealed, the government’s move has received a positive response. The LGBTQ community of the city-state has welcomed the PM’s move to repeal Section 377A.
Once implemented, the country of Singapore will join hands with countries that worked toward ending discrimination against LGBTQ members. The sovereign island will become the latest Asian country to do so.
Earlier, in India in 2018 India’s Highest Court i.e. Supreme Court scrapped the colonial-era ban dating back to 1861 on gay sex. Thereafter, consensual homosexual intercourse got legalised in the nation.
Recently, Thailand has also moved closer to decriminalising same-sex laws in the country.
Punishment to the offenders
In Singapore, anybody who was caught involved in the activity could be detained for up to two years as guided in the law under section 377A. However, the law has not been currently actively implemented in the state.
For decades, the nation did not report any known convictions for sex between consenting adult males. Furthermore, the law sticks to men only since it does not talk about sex between women or any other gender.
After Lee’s announcement, several LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer) acclaimed in a joint statement. They said that they all were ‘relieved’ by the PM’s Lee declaration.
Earlier, LGBTQ groups in Singapore made several attempts to repeal the law. Nevertheless, all hardships only went in vain.
Journey of the ‘Decriminalisation’ of Section 377A in Singapore
In February, the Highest Court of Singapore said that since the law is not being enforced, it does not breach constitutional rights. Further, ruled that the law could no longer be used to prosecute men for having gay sex.
PM Lee notified that the law sees resistance to its abolishment by some communities which included Muslims, Catholics and some other protestants.
The government will however continue to encourage only the traditional system of marriage, Lee added.
“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.
This will allow the decriminalisation of Section 377A in a careful and controlled way, he added.
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