Why Sgapore's gay sex law change is a double-edged sword for LGBTQ activists | CNN

Contents:

• SGAPORE GAY TRAVEL
• SGAPORE GAY MASSAGE SPAS & THERAPISTS
• SGAPORE’S LATT RULG ON GAY SEX IS ‘COLD COMFORT,’ ACTIVISTS SAY
• WHY SGAPORE’S GAY SEX LAW CHANGE IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD FOR LGBTQ ACTIVISTS

SGAPORE GAY TRAVEL

Stunt Ashleigh Ng, 15, danc wearg a rabow flag, durg a ncert performance at a park for the annual Pk Dot gay pri event on Saturday, July 1, 2017, Sgapore.

SGAPORE GAY MASSAGE SPAS & THERAPISTS

However, for many other lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, and queer (LGBTQ+) lols and expatriat the Ln Cy, the most ntroversial legislatn is that ncerng homosexualy. A remnant of Brish lonial legislatn, which still largely shap Sgapore’s legal system today, Sectn 377A of the Sgapore Penal Co, which prohibs sexual relatns between nsentg men public and private, particularly stands out this events have propelled this clse to the foreont of the news cycle Sgapore and abroad, light of a Febary 28 Court of Appeal lg that rejected an appeal filed by three lol Sgaporean gay men 2020, challengg the nstutnaly of Sectn recent legal challenge was fueled by an Indian urt’s cisn to lift a ban on nsensual gay sex September 2018, which spired Johnson Ong Mg, Bryan Choong, and Roy Tan Seng Kee to ph for siar legal actn Sgapore. The three lols challenged the nstutnaly of Sectn 377A, potg out that the clse prived gay Sgaporeans of “life or personal liberty” unr Article 9(1) of the Constutn of Sgapore.

Throughout the legal proceedgs, the Supreme Court repeatedly referred back to a 2007 polil promise stck wh Prime Mister Lee Hsien Loong, matag Sectn 377A place while promisg that no party uld effectively be prosecuted a urt of law for engagg nsensual homosexual activi private.

Followg the 2018 legal challenge to the clse, the Attorney-General’s Chambers offered a remr that the public prosecutor’s exercise of prosecutorial discretn “has always been, and remas, unfettered, ” thereby brgg to qutn the extent to which gay men are effectively safe om legal actn on the basis of their marked the send time the sectn has been challenged a prev appeal was filed 2014, after two men – Lim Meng Suan and Kenh Chee Mun-leon, a gay uple of 15 years – had siarly challenged the nstutnaly of Sectn 377A agast the premise of Article 9 and Article 12 of the Sgapore Constutn, the latter of which guarante all dividuals equaly to legal protectn of their rights unr the nstutn.

SGAPORE’S LATT RULG ON GAY SEX IS ‘COLD COMFORT,’ ACTIVISTS SAY

Another appeal had been filed four years prr by Tan Eng Hong, a gay man who had been arrted for allegedly engagg oral sex wh another man a locked cubicle of a public toilet. He also poted to a shift public attus towards homosexualy and LGBTQ+ rights, statg that “polici need to evolve to keep abreast of such views” and the Government is nsirg the “bt way forward wh [Sectn] 377A.

“I don’t thk we n tly move forward as a muny if we n only exprs ourselv the spac, ” they said, strsg the importance of Shanmugam’s claims that polici need to evolve *, a lol Sgaporean gay man, se a glimmer of hope the words.

WHY SGAPORE’S GAY SEX LAW CHANGE IS A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD FOR LGBTQ ACTIVISTS

For Max, and many other gay men the cy, this survey appears as a logil next step the ernment’s procs to addrs Sectn 377A.