Conservative Singaporeans are attempting to thwart the local LGBTIQ+ community's latest push for decriminalisation of gay sex.
Galvanised by India's recent decision to overturn colonial-era laws against homosexuality, organisation Pink Dot has started a petition to repeal section 377A, which outlaws gay sex.
According to the petition: "The [Singaporean] Government is undertaking the first major review of the Penal Code in more than a decade and the three-week public consultation on the report of the Penal Code Review Committee ends on Sunday September 30, 2018."
The petition, which has just over 14,000 signatures, continues: "The proposed changes to the Penal Code are expected to be tabled in Parliament in November this year. Unfortunately, an executive decision by the government was taken to exclude Section 377A from the scope of the review. If you share our vision of a more inclusive, more equal Singapore, please sign this petition and speak out."
Tommy Koh, ambassador-at-large in the Singapore foreign ministry, encouraged the community action, taking to social media to reflect on India's history-making decision.
"I would encourage our gay community to bring a class action to challenge the constitutionality of Section 377A," he wrote.
When a follower pointed out that previous petitions had been unsuccessful, Koh responded: "Try again."
However, a petition to maintain criminalisation of gay sex in Singapore has also received huge amounts of support, already collecting over 65,000 signatures.
According to Gay Star News, the petition’s description reads: "As a conservative society which values traditional family values, we like to reiterate our desire to keep the penal code to convey to our future generations that marriage act should only be an acceptable norm between a man and a woman."
It continues: "By repealing the section 377A penal code, it would begin to normalise homosexual behaviours as a societal norm and lead to greater push for other LGBT rights in our conservative society as we have seen played out in other western societies today."
According to section 377A, which outlaws so-called "outrages on decency", any male person who, in public or private, "commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years."
While still written into the law, section 377A is only sporadically enforced, with nine recorded convictions between 2007 and 2013.
Rachel Yeo, a Singapore-based LGBT+ activist, told PinkNews that the last high-profile case was “probably around a decade ago.”
Like India, Singapore is a former British colony and inherited laws criminalising homosexual acts.
