Singapore Lifts Ban on Gay Sex

Rabat – After years of fierce court debates to lift the ban on homosexuality, Singapore’s government decided on Sunday to repeal Section 377A, a colonial-era law that criminalizes gay sex, making it legal in the country.

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the decision on national television, saying that “private sexual behavior between consenting adults does not raise any law and order issue.” He added, “There is no justification to prosecute people for it [homosexuality], nor to make it a crime.”

Loong made the statements during his key policy speech at the annual National Day Rally. He added that “even among those who want to retain S377A, most don’t want to see it actively enforced, and criminal penalties applied.”

While acknowledging that “Singaporeans still have differing views on whether homosexuality is right or wrong,” Loong noted that “most people accept that a person’s sexual orientation and behavior is a private and personal matter, and that sex between men should not be a criminal offense.”

The law has been challenged in court several times, with unsuccessful attempts to declare it unconstitutional, Loong noted. However, following a recent judgment in the country’s Court of Appeal, “the Minister for Law and the Attorney General have advised that in a future court challenge, there is a significant risk of S377A being struck down” for breaching the Equal Protection provision in the Constitution.”

Stressing the need to “take that advice seriously,” Singapore’s Prime Minister said that decriminalizing gay sex is “ the right thing to do and something that most Singaporeans will now accept.”

Activists and LGBTQ+ members from Singapore and elsewhere have hailed the new government stance and supported scrapping the 377A law. “We finally did it, and we’re ecstatic that this discriminatory, antiquated law is finally going to be off the books,” gay activist Johnson Ong told the BBC.