On Sunday August 21, Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that sex between men will be decriminalized in the country.
In his annual national day rally speech, Prime Minister Lee said that Singapore’s society, especially the younger generations, are becoming more open-minded and accepting of gay people. However, despite the decision on decriminalizing sex between men, the legal definition of marriage in the country as being between a man and a woman will remain unchanged.
“I believe this is the right thing to do, and something that most Singaporeans will now accept,” the Prime Minister stated.
He also added that the government will revoke Section 377A of the penal code, which is a colonial-era law that deems sex between men illegal. Offenders can be jailed for up to two years in Singapore, but this is not actively enforced.
For decades, there have been no known convictions for consensual sex between adult men, and Section 377A also does not cover sex between women or other genders.
Because of this latest progression, Singapore becomes the latest Asian country to take one step closer in putting an end on the discrimination against members of the LGBTQ+ community, as per CNBC.
And although Prime Minister Lee announced the decriminalization of sex between men to the public, it remains unclear when exactly the law in question will be abolished.
Source: cnbc.com
About time, just glad gay sex has been decriminalized. I don’t know how many other areas have bans on being gay still. Geez.