Singapore’s highest court yesterday began hearing challenges to a 76-year-old ban on gay sex, a divisive issue that has gained prominence over the past two years, with gay rights activists losing battles in places like India and Russia, but claiming victories in others, such as New Zealand.
Over a two-day hearing before a three-judge panel at the Singapore Court of Appeal, lawyers for Kenneth Chee and Gary Lim are to argue that the ban, first adopted under British colonial rule in 1938, discriminates against gay men and violates rights to equal protection guaranteed by Singapore’s constitution.
Singaporean lawmakers in 2007 agreed to keep the law, known as Section 377A, when they repealed related provisions that made heterosexual oral and anal sex a crime. Gay rights activists and church groups advocated last year against and for the ban, which the government says it has not actively enforced since the mid-1990s. That prompted the Singaporean Attorney General’s Chamber to warn that comment on the case could be regarded as in contempt if calculated to affect the court’s decision.
Photo: AFP
Singapore Judges Andrew Phang, Belinda Ang and Woo Bih Li are hearing the arguments on behalf of Chee, 38, and Lim, 46, as well as a parallel appeal by another man, Tan Eng Hong, against the ban on acts of “gross indecency” between males. Offenders face mandatory jail terms of as long as two years.
Blogger Alex Au Wai Pang was accused in November last uear of being in contempt by allegedly insinuating the courts planned to rig hearing dates on the challenge. There’s no maximum punishment for the offense in Singapore. Au’s case is pending.
“The majority of the population still favors the current legal framework,” Singaporean Minister of Law K. Shanmugam told reporters last month when asked about the case and its background.
While society is evolving and social mores are changing, “the government has taken the position that this is a situation where it is best to agree to disagree,” Shanmugam added.
Police issued an advisory asking attendees at this year’s annual gay-pride rally Pink Dot on June 28 to “keep the peace” and avoid comments on race and religion. The warning followed Muslim and Christian groups’ call for followers to wear white on the day to signify “purity” and oppose the event.
Gay activists early last year started an online petition for abolition ahead of a lower court hearing on the law’s constitutionality and a group of pastors met Shanmugam to present their views on defending the nation’s “moral future.”
Yesterday’s hearing comes as battles over gay rights gained prominence over the past two years. India in December last year overturned a 2009 verdict legalizing consensual gay sex, while Russia enacted anti-gay laws earlier that year that drew international ire.
However, gay rights activists score a major win when New Zealand became the first Asia-Pacific nation to legalize gay marriages in August last year.
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