Kuala Lumpur.:Section 377A of the Singapore Penal Code, inherited from the British colonial era, provides for a prison sentence of up to two years for sex between men. Now it will be ended. But this change will be limited and the rules of marriage will not be changed.
Singapore announced on Sunday that it would criminalize sex between men by repealing a colonial-era law protecting traditional norms of marriage, the news agency AP reported. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said during his speech at the annual National Day rally that he believed it was the right thing to do now as most Singaporeans would now accept it.
He said that private sex between adults with mutual consent does not create any law and order issue. There is no justification to prosecute people for this nor to make it a crime. Lee said the law criminalizing gay sex would be abolished and would have any impact on Singapore’s traditional family and social norms. Section 377A will be repealed with caution. Section 377A of the Penal Code was implemented in Singapore in the 1930s under British colonial rule.
British rule over Singapore ended in 1963 when Singapore became a state of Malaysia. It became independent two years later but retained the British Penal Code, which made sexual relations between men punishable by up to two years in prison. Gay men say that this law is a sword hanging over their heads and discriminates against them. Every year thousands of activists hold a rally called Pink Dot in Singapore in support of the LGBTQ community.
