Sgapore to Decrimalize Gay Sex | Human Rights Watch

Contents:

• SGAPORE GAY HISTORY
• SGAPORE TO DECRIMALIZE GAY SEX
• END OF SGAPORE'S GAY SEX BAN A 'SMALL STEP' FOR SOME LGBT UPL
• HOMOSEXUALY TO BE LEGAL IN SGAPORE, BUT GAY MARRIAGE WILL HAVE TO WA

SGAPORE GAY HISTORY

Authori argued that reflected Sgapore society's view that homosexualy was not last week s parliament repealed the law, jt months after lear Lee Hsien Loong's surprise announcement they would scrap the ban bee of changg repeal of 377A turns the page on a dark chapter of Sgapore history that is rarely talked about the days, where gay men not only faced tense social stigma but were even actively targeted by Heng and the other men at Esplana Park that night were let off wh only a warng. Recent surveys show that, while there is still a signifint number who thk homosexualy is "wrong", there is also risg support for gay cy-state has veloped a thrivg LGBT scene, wh an creasg number of LGBT-iendly tablishments and pani promotg diversy polici. Later, they were taken to an upsle hilltop rtrant - a popular gay cisg spot the past, they were Tng told the BBC he cid to start givg LGBT history tours after realisg there was an "amnia", particularly among younger Sgaporeans.

His tours have attracted a mix of both straight and gay oute of the lack of enforcement of 377A is that "there are people who don't really re bee they've never been subjected to , " he more attentn paid to 377A recent years, cludg legal attempts to overturn , "there's been greater tert and people are more cur now" about LGBT history, though "the rourc are still lackg", he source, BBC/Tsa WongImage ptn, Mr Tng's tours attract a mix of gay and straight attenWh 377A's repeal, the law is now officially a thg of the past.

SGAPORE TO DECRIMALIZE GAY SEX

Moreover, wh male gay sex havg been crimalised for almost a century unr Sectn 377A of the Penal Co, procreatn beg culturally seen as an important aspect of one's duty to society and wh nsirable peer prsure to adhere to genr norms, there is much shame associated wh beg gay or transgenr. We n retropolate om the culture of ntemporary Malays that there was probably much tolerance towards men who dulged surrept homosexual activy, as evinced by the absence of any vol or physil vlence agast such people, outsi of the amework of the imported Islamic socpolil system. Effemate men are risively lled "bapok" (spelt "bap" Standard Malay) or "pondan" (see ma article: Sgapore gay termology), but apart om beg teased and regard ceteris parib as havg a lower stat than their more mascule unterparts, there is no hatred directed agast them, as is so often the suatn the Wt.

Constance Mary Turnbull, her work A History of Morn Sgapore 1819-2005, noted that when the Brish started to import large numbers of Che oli soon after the lony's foundg, Haane boys were nantly brought as homosexual prostut for the ntured labourers whose numbers were to rise threefold the last thirty years of the 19th century[10].

Given the easg of hibns afford by travel's transory ndn, one n assume homoerotic timacy and sexual enunters between male tourists and lol youth, particularly servants hotels and boardgho, to have also been not equent. This ference is le wh the fact that one of the first reported offenc unr Sectn 377A volved a Brish pta, Douglas Marr, who was charged for but acquted of illegal homosexual acts wh a Sgaporean Malay male youth, Sud b Dd, at the pta's home 1941[22], [23], [24]. In the The Stras Tim' 1970 feature on the history of prostutn Sgapore, s 12 April 1970 edn on page 4 mentned a homosexual man named Daffodil Sng (whom they lled a tame) who started a cha of brothels and built a vice empire employg female sex workers.

END OF SGAPORE'S GAY SEX BAN A 'SMALL STEP' FOR SOME LGBT UPL

Wh the crimalisatn of homosexual acts, there mt have been stanc where flagrant nsensual gay sex between lols seedy nocturnal venu met wh supprsn by the police, but crimal prosecutns were rare bee the thori were more ncerned wh homosexual prostutn targetg European clients whose morals they did not want rpted.

It is thought that the first plac where homosexual men, pecially Che oli, uld chance upon each other were the public toilets and back alleys near the lony's enomic heart - the btlg Sgapore River, predomantly along the right bank (lookg downstream) of Boat Quay (see ma article: Public toilets Sgapore: gay aspects).

The proximy of Hong Lim Park to Boat Quay may expla why the former beme notor as the first ternatnally known gay cisg renzvo Sgapore to be listed the Spartac Internatnal Gay Gui, the most wily read gay tourist publitn the world (see Sgapore gay venu: historil). Bret Hsch[30], chapter 6 of his book Passns of the Cut Sleeve: the Male Homosexual Tradn Cha, has tailed evince, rived om the works of lerati Li Yu (李漁) and Shen Defu (沈德符), of stutnalised same-sex marriage practic amongst Hokkien men Mg dynasty Cha.

HOMOSEXUALY TO BE LEGAL IN SGAPORE, BUT GAY MARRIAGE WILL HAVE TO WA

This popular Fujian bond brotherhood tradn was also mentned by Qg dynasty scholar and poet Yuan Mei (袁枚) her work Zi Bu Yu (子不語) which, amongst other supernatural stori, reunts the tale of the Rabb God, the patron y of gay men. Unbeknownst to all, save the ele few who posssed a knowledge of Japane culture eher through edn or travel, homosexual sex sudnly beme legimate as was never crimalised Japan except for seven years (1872 to 1880) durg the Meiji Rtoratn when Japan diligently emulated many norms of Wtern stutns her effort to "mornise". Even though this theoretilly meant that Sectns 377 and 377A of the Stras Settlements Penal Co once aga held sway, the Japane would not have bothered to prosecute any Sgaporean for gay sex as was not illegal the Japane ary self.

Homosexualy, and later, transsexualy were listed as ndns a Sgapore Armed Forc (SAF) 'Directory of Diseas' and recs who outed themselv to the examg doctors at the Central Manpower Base (CMPB) at Dempsey Road had their 'ployabily' nied sensive posns. Wh the prospery that pnt polici of promotg foreign multatnal vtment brought while other regnal untri were mired the efficienci of import substutn and socialist enomics, those homosexuals, pecially the English-ted who uld afford air travel, were exposed to the liberalism of the Wt and the nascent gay movements there.

The growg populary of travel to Thailand and Japan the late 70's also opened the ey of Sgaporean gays to the possibily that an Asian society uld be nservative and tradnal, but yet acceptg of homosexuals as an tegral part of . The majory of gays, however, uld not afford ternatnal air travel the early 70's and were rtricted to stereotypil portrayals of themselv as effemate or cross-drsg salac dividuals, fed by the heavily-censored media who were prevented om pictg any posive imag of homosexuals whatsoever.

Enuraged by this precence, homosexuals started to patronise other, maly straight, diss the cy area such as the upmarket My Place, Black Velvet, Wt End, El Moroc, The Library, Stud M and even the more prosaic NCO Club at Beach Road.

Nightclubs like Pebble Bar loted on the ground floor of the now molished Hotel Sgapura Interntental, and ls popularly Treetops Bar at the Holiday Inn, were creasgly packg the gays and beme inic stutns of the lol gay scene. It was groundbreakg that was the first Hollywood movie to be filmed entirely on lotn Sgapore, the first to nta a gay Sgaporean sub-plot plete wh full ontal male nudy and the first to have a Sgaporean trans woman nu scene.

Towards the end of the , reliable rmatn dissemated through the grapeve ma the gay populace aware of the sexualy of certa televisn producers, lol sportg superstars, pop idols, sons and nephews of misters and members of parliament, and even Government bet misters themselv.

The diss would be closed by the time of the mid-80s, for unclear reasons, to be replaced by weekly Sunday Night Gay Parti or "Shadow Nights" n by the former management of Shadow (affectnately known as the "Shadow Management"). Wh the weekly gathergs for energetic dancg to let off steam and meet new iends, homosexuals felt the first bonds of a relatively hive muny - a warm feelg of beg weled to a new brotherhood, ntradistctn to erstwhile isolatn, alienatn and lonels for many.

Roy Chan and a group of activist-md healthre profsnals (both gay and straight) to set up a non-ernmental anizatn (NGO) lled Actn for AIDS (AfA) 1988 which provid support and unselg for people livg wh HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) as well as tn to the public regardg safer sex[56].

Large bookshops like Borrs, Kokuniya, Tower Books and even MPH rpond to the growg body of gay lerature maly om Ameri by discreetly stockg the books along wh those on women's issu sectns phemistilly entled 'Genr Studi'. In the late 90's, the red herrg 'Genr Studi' moniker was replaced by a more ank tle of 'Alternative Lerature', which although a step closer to the tth, still fell short of the ially accurate 'Gay and Lbian Lerature' by which was known the Wt. Gays were perceived of as somewhat of a threat to Asian valu some quarters of the Establishment and plats ma by members the straight public agast rampant cisg, pl the arrival of HIV Sgapore which ially affected maly men-who-have-sex-wh-men (MSM), led to the implementatn of police entrapment.