The Singaporean parliament’s vote to decriminalise sex between men is a landmark victory for the city-state’s LGBTQ community. (AP pic)
SINGAPORE: The Singaporean parliament today voted to repeal a controversial law that criminalised consensual sex between men, in a landmark victory for the city-state’s LGBTQ community.
At the same time, however, the legislature made it clear that it supports defining marriage as being between a man and a woman.
The move, which capped a two-day debate by lawmakers, rolls back legislation stemming from before independence in 1965, when Singapore was under British colonial rule.
“The time has come for us to remove Section 377A, because it humiliates and hurts gay people,” law minister K. Shanmugam declared during the discussion on Monday, in reference to the law.
While the ban was not strictly enforced, its place in the books was repeatedly challenged in the courts by LGBTQ supporters.
Increasingly, there was doubt over whether it could withstand further scrutiny. So in August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said parliament would vote to repeal Section 377A.
Shanmugam said during the debate that “most gay people do not cause harm to others – they just want to live peacefully and quietly and be accepted as part of society, the same as any other Singaporean.”
But while some of Singapore’s Asian neighbours, such as Thailand, are gradually moving to extend such acceptance to same-sex unions, the city-state on Tuesday also drew a line in the sand.
Alongside the law’s repeal, lawmakers voted for a constitutional amendment that places the power to define marriage in the hands of parliament, and not the courts – thereby staving off legal challenges on this front.
The prime minister and his heir apparent, finance minister Lawrence Wong – the top leaders of the ruling People’s Action Party – have made it clear that the traditional definition of marriage as a heterosexual union will remain while they are in charge.
From public housing to education, myriad government systems use this definition. The PAP’s supermajority in parliament, which enables it to approve laws with little resistance, means the definition is unlikely to change anytime soon.
During the debate on Monday, opposition leader Pritam Singh of the Workers’ Party noted that the PAP did not lift its party whip for the debate, indicating that members would have to vote according to the party line, no matter their personal beliefs.
Singh supported both the revocation of the gay sex ban and the accompanying constitutional amendment, in line with the PAP’s position, but said his party had taken a different route by lifting the whip for the vote.
“377A is unique in that it is conceived through a religious lens by many in Singapore, in addition to being a matter of conscience for a no less significant number,” he said.
Singh noted that within his party, opinions were split. “Given the varied public opinion on the impending repeal of 377A, there is a risk that the democratic value of parliament could be diluted if the views of Singaporeans on this subject are not adequately ventilated.”
This prompted a sharp response from the PAP’s Shanmugam as parliament voted in favour of the changes and the law minister spoke near the end of the session on the second day.
“The real point is that the WP, as a party, does not want to take a stand on this matter,” he said. “It does not want to be seen as supporting the repeal. At the same time it also does not want to be seen as opposing the repeal – that way it hopes to be all things to all men and not too much of anything to anyone.”
Singh’s rejoinder was that most of his party members in parliament voted in favour of the changes, in effect demonstrating where the WP stood on the issue.
All told, 85 lawmakers voted in favour, with two votes against the repeal and two abstentions.