Bangkok 22 August : The Singaporean government is preparing to repeal a law of the colonial period that criminalizes sexually explicit sex between men the Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said. “The government will remove section 377A and decriminalise sex between men,” Lee added in his speech on Sunday during the annual National Day Rally.
“I believe that this is the right decision to make and something that the majority of Singaporeans will accept now.It will bring the law in conformity with the current social norms and, I hope, bring some relief for lesbian Singaporeans.”
Singapore’s Section 377A criminalizes acts of “gross indecency” between men that can be punished with a jail period of between two and three years in the city-state, which is mostly conservative DPA news agency reported.
The law is seldom implemented in the real world, yet it is still in the law books for a long time after the introduction of British during the colonial era.
The Prime Minister assured that the repeal of the law wouldn’t “trigger an extreme change in our social norms across the all of society” and that the government will remain committed to “uphold and protect the marriage institution of marriage”.
“Under the law, only marriages of a man and a woman are recognized in Singapore.The government does not have any plans of altering the definition of marriage.” Lee added.
The premier then said that the constitution of the country will be amended to ensure that the same-sex marriage isn’t legalized through a court decision.
int/khz/
.
