By Huiyu Yin
On October 29, 2014, a
ruling came down from Singapore’s Supreme Court to uphold the country’s ban
on same-sex relations between consenting adult men, disappointing homosexual
people in Singapore once again.
Singapore introduced Penal Code section 377A in 1938, which criminalized
consensual acts of sodomy between heterosexual adults. In 2007, the Singaporean
government conducted a review of section 377A but refused to eliminate the
discriminatory law. In July 2014, the Supreme Court heard a joint appeal by three
Singaporean citizens contesting section 377A. Gary Lim and Kenneth Chee had
been involved in a romantic relationship for 16 years. They were joined in
their appeal by Tan Eng Hong, who had been arrested in 2010 for allegedly
engaging in a sexual encounter with another man. The Singaporean Supreme Court however
held that section 377A does not violate articles 9 and 12 of the country’s
constitution. Those articles are supposed guarantee the right to life and
personal liberty and provide that all people are entitled to equal protection
before the law.
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