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Singapore’s anti-gay laws face challenge as India celebrates ruling
A Singapore DJ has filed a court challenge against a colonial-era law that bans gay sex in the conservative city state following India’s scrapping of similar legislation. Johnson Ong Ming, 43, also known as DJ Big Kid, filed his challenge with the High Court on Monday, his lawyers said, just four days after India’s landmark ruling. Under Section 377A of Singapore’s Penal Code, a man found to have committed an act of “gross indecency” with another man could be jailed for up to two years, although prosecutions are rare. The law does not apply to homosexual acts between women. Singapore’s leaders have said they will not enforce the law, but have been reluctant to remove it for fear of angering conservatives.
What next? Previous legal challenges to overturn the ban have failed, but a top Singapore diplomat called on the gay community to renew legal action against the law a day after India’s top court decriminalised gay sex. A public opinion survey released this week showed a slim majority of Singaporeans still support the law with 55 per cent of 750 Singaporeans polled in favour of it.