Heterosexuals should set the social tone in Singapore, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said in remarks published on Sunday defending why his government will not decriminalize gay sex.
"My view is that gayness is something which is mostly inborn. Some people are like that, some people are not. How they live their own lives is really for them to decide," Lee said in remarks carried by the Sunday Times.
But he added: "I think the tone of the society should really be set by the heterosexuals, and that's the way many Singaporeans feel."
Lee, the son of Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew (
Singapore may legalize oral and anal sex in private between consenting heterosexual adults under proposed changes in the country's first major penal code amendments in 22 years.
Lee, responding to a student's question at an open forum, said the majority of Singaporeans were strongly against repealing the law on homosexual acts, the newspaper reported.
Gay rights activists have slammed the law, which dates back to British colonial days, and argued it should be repealed.
Singapore has in recent years eased social restrictions in a bid to shake off its reputation as a culturally sterile and ultra-conservative society. Some clubs are allowed to open all night while skimpily-dressed bar-top dancers and service staff work in some establishments.
In July, British actor Ian McKellen, who is openly gay, joined the calls to repeal the law which he said may affect a vibrant business city such as Singapore. He was in town as part of a Royal Shakespeare Company tour.
"It's about time Singapore grew up, I think, and realised that gay people are here to stay," McKellen said.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
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