The conservative city-state of Singapore convicted men for homosexual behaviour as recently as seven years ago, and the British colonial-era law it used is still on the books. Singapore’s government shows no interest in making a change: The prime minister’s advice has been to just let things be.
Opposition official Vincent Wijeysingha isn’t taking that advice. On his Facebook page last week, he became the first Singaporean politician to come out of the closet, and he is advocating for the law to be scrapped.
He told The Associated Press on Monday that although the government resists decriminalising homosexuality, “society will eventually overtake it on this question.”
“I am entirely convinced the law will eventually be repealed,” said Wijeysingha (wee-jay-sing-ga), treasurer of the Singapore Democratic Party.
The decades-old law makes “gross indecency” between men punishable by up to two years in prison. It has not been actively enforced in recent years, but 185 men were convicted under the law between 1997 and 2006, according to government data.
Complaints of discrimination based on sexual orientation have become less common in Singapore, a Southeast Asian economic powerhouse of about 5 million. But until a decade ago, government policies barred gays from “sensitive positions” in the civil service and strictly censored gay-related content in movies and TV shows.
Gay rights have grown around the world; more than a dozen countries and 13 US states now allow same-sex marriage. But according to the United Nations, about 75 countries continue to criminalise homosexual behaviour; in a few of them, it is punishable by death.
Singapore’s High Court in April rejected a bid by a gay couple to scrap the city-state’s law, ruling that Parliament should be responsible for making any changes.