A DJ has filed a court challenge against the ban on gay sex in Singapore.
Last week, India legalized gay sex after its Supreme Court ruled that the colonial-era Section 377 law was unconstitutional.
After this ruling, many turned to Singapore and urged it to consider making a similar decision for its own Section 377 (this time called Section 377A). More specifically, international cries poured in for someone to challenge the island nation’s law.
Now, someone has stepped up and that someone is 43-year-old Johnson Ong Ming. Ming, otherwise known as DJ Big Kid, filed a challenge this past Monday, according to Towleroad.
“We intend to argue that Section 377A is absurd and arbitrary,” said Ming’s lawyers Suang Wijaya and Eugene Thuraisingam to Reuters.
This court challenge will be facing a tough battle however as there is strong, Christian-based, opposition to decriminalizing of gay sex.
According to Reuters, a public opinion survey released last week showed that 55 percent of 750 Singaporean respondents support keeping the law. Meanwhile, the poll, conducted by consulting firm Ipsos, showed that only 12 percent were opposed to it and 33 percent of respondents said they were neither for nor against the action.
Also last week, more than 90,000 people signed an online petition to keep the bill. The creator of the petition stated that the silent majority would not sit down to the vocal minority on this matter.
“By repealing the section 377A penal code, it would begin to normalize homosexual behaviours as a societal norm and lead to greater push for other LGBT rights in our conservative society as we have seen played out in other western societies today. We do not think the vocal minority should impose their values and practice on the silent majority who are still largely conservative.”
“Hence, if you among the silent majority, please sign this petition to support and reiterate our position to the Singapore government that we wants the Penal Code 377A to stay.”
In addition, the Singaporean Law and Home Affairs Minister Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam said:
“If you look at the issue, it is a deeply split society. The majority are opposed to any change to Section 377A. They are opposed to removing it,” he insisted.
“Can you impose viewpoints on a majority when (the issue is) so closely related to social value systems?” he asked.
Lastly, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is noted for saying earlier that Singapore society “is not that liberal on these matters.”
h/t: Towleroad, Reuters
