India Down, Singapore Next?

by Michael Jones · 2009-07-06 06:40:00 UTC
Topics:

Singapore

With the ruling last week from the Delhi High Court in India that decriminalized homosexuality (at least within the National Capital Territory of Delhi), eyes now shift toward another Asian country where efforts to decriminalize homosexuality could potentially be on their way: Singapore.

LGBT rights supporters (both straight and gay) held what might be the country's first ever public rally tied to gay rights earlier this year, where hundreds of people gathered in "pink dots" to show their support for tolerance and respect.  And in 2007, their former Prime Minster, Lee Kuan Yew, openly questioned why the country still criminalized sexual orientation.  That same year, Singapore overturned bans on oral and anal sex for heterosexual couples, but unfortunately left bans in place for LGBT couples.

Laws that criminalize homosexuality in Singapore are remnants of British colonialism - much like they were in India.  Over the weekend, Singapore's Law Minister, K. Shanmugam, made somewhat of a weird statement when talking about the law. On one hand he said that the government won't get involved in overturning bans on homosexuality.  But on the other hand he said that the government would not prosecute people under the law.  His direct quote: "The way the society is going, we don't think it's fair for us to prosecute people who say that they are homosexual."

Weird.  So on one hand, Singapore will keep on the books a law that prosecutes people and is a leftover from colonialism.  But on the other hand, that law won't be enforced.  So what's the point of keeping the law?

With India now in the process of ending its ban on homosexuality, the international community will be looking at other countries, including and perhaps especially Singapore, to see if they follow suit.  As Human Rights Watch has documented, these British Colonial-era laws are decrepid relics, and they deserve to be overturned, not only out of respect for civil rights, but basic human rights as well.

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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