GRSJ224/Legal Issues of Homosexuality in Singapore

Overview

Singapore is a highly urbanized and westernized island state located in Southeast Asia. It holds the highest Human Development Index score in Asia and has the third highest Gross Domestic Product per capita in the world ranked by data from the World Bank. However, Singapore’s laws, education, and public attitude provide low acceptance towards homosexuality. The homosexual community in Singapore are not entitled to the freedom, legal rights and acceptance that those in North America has.

Sexual activities

The penal code in Singapore criminalizes gay sexual activities under section 377A, referring to it as “acts of gross indecency between male adults”. Sexual activities between two or more adult males in public, as well as in private, are prohibited by law and offenders can be sentenced with up to two years of imprisonment. A spokesman for Singapore’s State Court revealed that between 2007 and 2013, nine people were convicted for such offenses even though section 377A is not proactively enforced. Sexual acts between female homosexuals, however, was not prohibited by this section of the penal code as they were argued by the highest court in Singapore to be "either less prevalent or perceived to be less repugnant than male homosexual conduct". Parliament petitions as well as challenges and debates from the homosexual community has not been successful so far in reaching the repeal of this section of the penal code.

2007 Petition and Public Attitude towards Section 377A

In October 2007, for the first time in over two decades, a public petition pursuing the repeal of section 377A was submitted. This petition was signed by 2519 Singaporeans over a period of three days. Supporters cited “equality” as one of the reasons for the repeal. On the other hand, 15,560 Singaporeans signed an opposing petition in an effort to retain section 377A. This debacle also prompted a National University of Singapore professor, Li-Ann Thio, to make the infamous comment that “Anal-penetrative sex is inherently damaging to the body and a misuse of organs, like shoving a straw up your nose to drink”.

Enforcement of section 377A

Early prosecutions under the sections 377A was extremely biased. According to the cases recorded in Radics’ article, cases involving Europeans were rarely convicted while the prosecution of Chinese defendants would be swift and without much ordeal. In a more recent case, Tan Eng Hong, was caught performing homosexual sexual activities in a public washroom in a local shopping mall. He was reported to the police by two waiters from a nearby restaurant. He was arrested, held in custody and remained in jail for one day. He was later also convicted for public obscenity charges and was fined $3000.

Marriage and Families

Same-sex marriage is not legal in Singapore. In an article by Panchapakesan published in Oxford Journals, it is stated that majority of the public in Singapore do not support the legalization of same-sex marriage. The concept of family is limited to the heterosexual nuclear family in which marriage is the union between a man and a woman.

Censorship

There is stringent censorship regulations in Singapore that filters homosexual content from conventional forms of media such as books, newspapers, radio, television and film. However, this censorship do not extend to the internet. In his research findings published in the Oxford Journals, Panchapakesan argues that respondents who experienced higher exposure to information from the internet were comparatively more supportive of the legalization of same-sex marriage. The government justifies such censorship with its belief that unrestricted media content can have adverse effects on the general public. The government cites increased support of homosexuality as an undesirable effect that can be generated by exposure to homosexual content from the media. Singaporeans are generally supportive of such censorship of homosexual content from mainstream media. A study conducted in 2012 by Ho et al. found that the extent that people’s religious values serve as principles for their actions is positively correlated to the support of censoring homosexual material.

Example:

Children's picture book that was ordered to be destroyed by the government due to portrayal of homosexual content,

And Tango Makes Three is a children’s picture book about two male penguins raising a baby chick. The National Library Board of Singapore has ordered for all copies of this book to be removed from the libraries and destroyed following the feedback of a library user who expressed concern over its homosexual content. Along with this book were two other books that were also removed for similar reasons, The White Swan Express which is about a lesbian couple trying to adopt a child in China and Who's In My Family: All About Our Families. Yaacob Ibrahim, the country’s information minister, supports the removal and destruction of these titles. He claims that the “prevailing norm” in Singapore are conventional family constructs not “alternative, non-traditional families” that were portrayed in the book. However, this decision led to very much controversy. A petition calling for the return of the books has garnered nearly 5000 signatures. The National Library Board later changed its decision and moved the two of the three titles to the adult sections of the library instead of destroying them. Who's In My Family: All About Our Families was still destroyed due to its discussion of various types of families, including homosexual couples.

Pink Dot Movement

Pink Dot SG is a Singaporean non profit movement that supports the LGBTs (lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgendered individuals). Following a lax in rules for public speaking, the first Pink Dot movement was held in 2009 in Singapore's Speaker's Corner, at Hong Lim Park. This movement aims to increase awareness of the LGBT community, thereby eliminating any misconception and negative attitudes towards the community. The movement also aims to foster understanding between the LGBT community and Singaporeans to increase social cohesion. The Pink Dot movement advocates openness, understanding and tolerance. Everyone is welcomed to join the movement in show of support for inclusiveness, diversity and the freedom to love . Following the success of the Pink Dot Rally in 2011, many organizations around the world were inspired to organize pink dot events. Places include Hong Kong , Montreal , New York , etc.

"Wear White" Campaign

Following the Pink Dot Movement, the "Wear White" Campaign started in protest. Founder of the "Wear White" Campaign, Muslim religious teacher Noor Deros, encouraged his followers to wear white as a symbol of "purity" and to signal the community's opposition to homosexuality . Following the lead,Lawrence Khong, pastor and head of the Faith Community Baptist Church (FCBC), and the LoveSingapore network of churches encouraged his followers to wear white as a form of protest against the Pink Dot Movement. In a newspaper interview, Khong expressed that the Pink Dot Movement is a “decline of moral and family values" .

References

Radics, George Baylon. "Decolonizing Singapore's Sex Laws: Tracing Section 377A of Singapore's Penal Code." Columbia Human Rights Law Review 45.1 (2013): 57. Web.
Detenber, Benjamin H., et al. "Influence of Value Predispositions, Interpersonal Contact, and Mediated Exposure on Public Attitudes Toward Homosexuals in Singapore." Asian Journal of Social Psychology 16.3 (2013): 181-96. Web.
Lee, Yvonne CL. "'Don't Ever Take a Fence Down Until You Know the Reason it was Put Up' - Singapore Communitarianism and the Case for Conserving 377A." Singapore Journal of Legal Studies.Dec 2008 (2008): 347-94. Web. Link
Panchapakesan, C., L. Li, and SS Ho. "Examining how Communication and Demographic Factors Relate to Attitudes Toward Legalization of Same-Sex Marriage in Singapore." INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC OPINION RESEARCH 26.3 (2014): 355-68. Web.
Paul Tan, Kenneth, and Gary Lee Jack Jin. "imagining the Gay Community in Singapore." Critical Asian Studies 39.2 (2007): 179-204. Web.
Pink Dot Sg,. (2015). Pink Dot Sg. Retrieved 3 December 2015, from http://pinkdot.sg/