Homosexuality has finally been legalised in the city-state
Gay rights activists in Singapore are celebrating “a triumph of love over fear” as the city-state abolished a colonial-era law that made homosexuality illegal.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the decision on national TV, backtracking on the government’s previous position to keep 377A – which bans sex between men.
Section 377A was introduced by the colonial British government in India in the 19th century and forbade “carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal”.
The law was soon spread across other colonies as the British used the Indian Penal Code as the basis for criminal law codes in other British colonies.
Kenya, Malaysia and Myanmar still have some version of 377A.
While on the statute books in Singapore, the law was rarely enforced.
However, 377A will be no more.
Mr Lee said the scrapping of the law “is the right thing to do, and something that most Singaporeans will accept.”
Lee said that “gay people are now better accepted” and abolishing 377A would bring the country’s laws in line with “current social mores, and I hope, provide some relief to gay Singaporeans.”
The announcement came after a decades-long campaign from Singapore’s gay and lesbian community.
Gay rights activist Johnson Ong told the BBC that while the law’s scrapping “took a little too long”, they were celebrating the victory.
“We finally did it, and we’re ecstatic that this discriminatory, antiquated law is finally going to be off the books. There’s a sense that maybe it took a little too long, but it had to happen, you know. Today we are very, very happy,”
A coalition of gay rights groups called it a “hard-won victory and a triumph of love over fear”, adding it was the first step towards full equality, with a fight for marriage equality the next battle to be fought.