Tag Archives: S377A

In a report submitted by the Singapore government to the UN in October this year, but which was released yesterday by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Singapore government explained its decision to retain Section 377A of the Penal Code. S377A bans sex between men.

I think our Singapore government secretly supports the repeal of S377A and same-sex marriage except they don't officially declare it so as not to upset religious voters who are the vocal minority but pretend to be the silent majority as if they represent all Singaporeans.

Every gay man has a coming-out story, but I believe in a coming-out place, a place which links us to our rite-of-passage point at Tanjong Pagar; a place which reminds us that, before our collective memory in the gay space of Tanjong Pagar, we each have a space that is unique to our own gayhood.

A law forbidding any man from committing an act of gross indecency with another in private or in public, enacted in 1938, was meant to deal with the problem of male prostitution at the time. It was not meant to criminalise consensual sexual conduct between two men, argued Senior Counsel Deborah Barker on the second day of a joint appeal by three men for the court to declare void Section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalises sexual acts between men.

Naturally, after the successful repeal of 377A, I think the liberals will lobby for gay marriages. It is going to be a big overhaul of our laws: Woman's charter, Muslim Marriage Act and Inheritance Act as I remember these laws specifically use the word "woman". I am sure the word "spouse" has to be re-defined. Male-gay couples have no problems with adopting children as there is a loophole in the adoption system in Singapore which allows a single male to adopt children as long as the adopter passes the minimum age requirement.