Excerpts from Yawning Bread.
Singapore’s Penal Code is based on India’s. We too used to have a Section 377 that criminalised “carnal intercourse against the order of nature”, which like India’s applied to both homosexual and heterosexual relationships, but this was repealed in 2007.
However Singapore has an additional Section of the Penal Code, known as Section 377A which specifically targets gay men, criminalising “gross indecency between two males”. The government deliberately let 377A stand in 2007, even when they repealed Section 377. Explaining why, the Singapore government said they wanted to decriminalise oral and anal sex between heterosexual couples, but keep it a criminal offence between gay men. Society was still conservative (i.e. many people didn’t know a damn thing about homosexuality and wanted their prejudices enshrined in law), the government said.
In other words, the Singapore government did exactly what the judges in Delhi said was constitutionally wrong – criminal law held captive by popular misconception.
Read the full article here.
