Sexual intercourse between men is no longer a criminal offense in Singapore. This was decided by the parliament of the Asian city-state on Tuesday, repealing a law dating back to British colonial times. Repealing the law is right because “consensual sex between men can no longer be considered a crime,” Justice Minister K. Shanmugam said at the close of the parliamentary debate.
Members of the LGBTQ community reacted with relief to the decision. “The air I’m breathing definitely feels a lot lighter,” said gay Singaporean Benjamin Xue. Doctor Roy Tan said the law’s repeal marked the “birth of a new chapter” in the history of Singapore’s LGBTQ community.
Paragraph 377A, which dates back to the colonial era, had provided for a maximum sentence of two years imprisonment for homosexual practices. It hasn’t been used for years, but activists have long criticized it for going against the increasingly modern and dynamic way of life in the Southeast Asian city-state.
Singapore’s parliament also passed a constitutional amendment on Tuesday clarifying that marriage can only be between a man and a woman. The traditional definition of family is the foundation of society, said Social and Family Affairs Minister Masagos Zulkifli. There are no plans to change this definition to include same-sex marriages. However, if societal attitudes change, it is possible that Parliament could change the definition of marriage.
Homosexuality is banned in 69 countries, and it is punishable by death in eleven of them, according to a 2020 report by the umbrella organization Ilga.
