The Psychic Trauma of Being Queer in Singapore

Jasjyot Singh Hans
OPINION : GUEST ESSAY
THE NEW YORK TIMES: I was at a watch party last month, waiting excitedly for the expected announcement that Singapore would finally decriminalize consensual sex between gay men.

Section 377A of Singapore’s Penal Code, a holdover from British colonial times, has loomed as a barrier to queer rights, setting the tone for discrimination in broader areas like housing, health care and employment.

Although the government had years ago stopped enforcing it, repeal gave gay Singaporeans like me hope that we might finally be accepted, and cheers went up when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong delivered the news. But the room went silent moments later.

Anxious to reassure conservatives, Mr. Lee quickly added that marriage was defined as between a man and a woman and would be protected from further legal challenge through a constitutional amendment. No changes were mentioned in other policy areas that marginalize us. The status quo, justified by the familiar refrain of family values, would be maintained.

Rather than a gesture of reconciliation, the government cynically validated bigoted factions that have historically abused and organized against queers. » | Joel Tan * | Thursday, September 22, 2022

* Joel Tan is a Singaporean playwright and artist based in London. His play Tango dramatized the human cost of Singapore’s homophobic policy environment.

Singapore to End Ban on Gay Sex - BBC News

Aug 22, 2022 Singapore will repeal a law that bans gay sex, effectively making it legal to be homosexual in the city-state.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced on national TV they would abolish the 377A law - which bans sex between men.

LGBT activists in Singapore have hailed the move as "a win for humanity".

But they also expressed concern after Mr Lee said the government would ensure better legal protection for the definition of marriage as one between a man and a woman.

This would effectively make it harder for gay marriage to be legalised.


Related article here.

Singapore to Repeal Law That Criminalises Sex between Men

THE GUARDIAN: Scrapping of colonial-era section 377A law hailed as ‘a win for humanity’ by LGBTQ+ rights groups

LGBTQ+ rights campaigners at the annual ‘Pink Dot’ event at Hong Lim Park in Singapore in June. Photograph: Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty Images
Singapore will repeal a colonial-era law that criminalises sex between men, a landmark decision described by LGBTQ+ groups as “a win for humanity”.

In a national address on Sunday, the prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said that scrapping section 377A of the penal code would bring the law into line with current social attitudes and “provide some relief to gay Singaporeans”.

However, Lee added that the government did not want “wholesale changes in our society”, including changes to the legal definition of marriage.

“Even as we repeal 377A, we will uphold and safeguard the institution of marriage. Under the law, only marriages between one man and one woman are recognised in Singapore,” he said.

Section 377A, which was introduced under British colonial rule, criminalises “any act of gross indecency with another male person”. The law carries a sentence of up to two years in prison, though it is not believed to have been enforced for more than a decade. » | Rebecca Ratcliffe, South-east Asia correspondent | Sunday, August 21, 2022

Singapore’s Latest Ruling on Gay Sex Is ‘Cold Comfort,’ Activists Say

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Plaintiffs had hoped the Court of Appeal would overturn the colonial-era law. Instead, the top court said it was not “an architect of social policy” and that any change was up to Parliament.

The Singapore Court of Appeal, the country’s top court, declined Monday to overturn a law criminalizing gay sex, ruling that three men who brought challenges did not have legal standing because the government has pledged not to enforce the colonial-era law.

Gay rights advocates had sought to overturn the law, known as Section 377A, arguing that it stigmatizes gay men and promotes discrimination. The law, enacted in 1938 during British rule, does not apply to women.

Pink Dot SG, a leading L.G.B.T.Q. advocacy group that organizes Singapore’s annual pride event, said it was “profoundly disappointed” by the decision.

“The acknowledgment that Section 377A is unenforceable only in the prosecutorial sense is cold comfort,” the group said in a statement. “Section 377A’s real impact lies in how it perpetuates discrimination across every aspect of life: at home, in schools, in the workplace, in our media, and even access to vital services like health care.” » | Richard C. Paddock | Monday, February 28, 2022

Gay Kiss on Live TV Evades Singapore’s Ban on LGBT Content

THE GUARDIAN: Video clip of two men kissing in Beijing bar during Channel News Asia report hailed as ‘act of revolution’

Two men are seen kissing behind the Channel News Asia reporter during a live broadcast from Beijing. Photograph: CNA/YouTube
It was a Singaporean news report on the Winter Olympics opening ceremony, live from a Beijing bar filled with eager fans. Yet it was two men – who burst into the view of the camera, sharing a dramatic kiss – who stole the show.

The clip has since gone viral in Singapore, where broadcasting codes restrict content that promotes LGBT “lifestyles”, and where sexual relationships between men are outlawed.

The kiss does not feature in a version of the report published by Channel News Asia (CNA) on its website. But on TikTok a clip of the kiss has been viewed more than 825,000 times. “This is actually an act of revolution,” one user wrote. It has also been shared widely on Weibo, a popular social media platform in China. » | Rebecca Ratcliffe, South-east Asia correspondent | Tuesday, February 8, 2022

Brexit ‘Shambles’ Has Ruined UK Reputation, Says Senior Diplomat

THE GUARDIAN: Outgoing high commissioner in Singapore says Britain seen as divided and ‘careless of truth’

Scott Wightman, Britain’s outgoing senior diplomat in Singapore, has said Britain is now seen worldwide as a country beset by division, obsessed with ideology and careless of truth.

In a valedictory note, he compared Brexit to the fall of Singapore in 1942 and said major investors expect future investment in Europe to be directed more towards Germany and France.

The remarks, first reported by Politico, came as the high commissioner left his post to take up a job in his native Scotland.

Ironically, many Brexiter MPs have claimed the UK can become a free-market haven like Singapore once it is freed from the regulations associated with the European single market.

Wightman said that as a result of Brexit, the nation that Singaporeans “admired for stability, common sense, tolerance and realism grounded in fact, they see beset by division, obsessed with ideology, careless of the truth … I fear many around the world share their view.” » | Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor | Wednesday, June 12, 2019

Will the Singapore Summit Be the Beginning of a New Era? | Inside Story

Donald Trump has become the first US president to meet and shake hands with a North Korean leader. After months of speculation and threats, the two men met on Singapore's Sentosa island.

They held a 40-minute meeting, followed by a signing of a joint statement in which they agreed to the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. But it was a document vague in detail and lacking a time frame. So, what will the North Korean leader get in return for agreeing to 'denuclearise'?

Presenter: Hashem Ahelbarra | Guests: Scott Snyder - Senior Fellow for Korea Studies and Director of the Program on US-Korea Policy at the Council on Foreign Relations; Tai Wei Lim - Adjunct Research Fellow for the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore; Victor Gao - Director of the China National Association of International Studies

Trump Halts War Games, Floats Troop Pullout in Korea

At the Singapore summit, President Trump announced a halt to U.S. war games on the Korean peninsula and said he wants to withdraw American troops. But if he does, he'll face stiff resistance from Congress and Pentagon, warns author James Dorsey

Trump Kim Summit: US President Donald Trump Arrives in Singapore – BBC News

Who Will Pay for North Korea's Hotel Bill?

The Washington Post reports North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is asking for another nation to pay for his hotel bill during the historic summit between the US and North Korea in Singapore.

Worldwide Phenomenon Brings Christian Message to US

Joseph Prince is a pastor to a congregation of more than 30,000 people in Singapore, and now he's coming to the US

Joseph Prince Minsitries »

Singapore Bans Japanese Food
Mar 24 - Singapore becomes the latest country to ban food imports from certain regions in Japan. Arnold Gay reports

Singapore Then and Now

Singapore Water Polo Team In Hot Water Over Trunks Design
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Singapore's men's water polo team is in hot water over the design of their custom-made swimming trunks that have been deemed "inappropriate" by the city-state's government.

The red and white trunks feature elements of Singapore's national flag, five stars and a crescent moon jutting up from the groin, leaving a somewhat unfortunate impression. >>> Ian MacKinnon in Hua Hin, Thailand | Friday, November 26, 2010

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates Warns North Korea
THE TELEGRAPH: Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, delivered a stark warning to North Korea on Saturday, declaring that America would not "stand idly by" while the regime threatened to "wreak destruction" with nuclear weapons.

Instead, Mr Gates urged "tough sanctions" against North Korea and pledged that Washington would not accept its possession of a nuclear arsenal. Kim Jong-il's regime was, he said, starving its own people in order to develop weapons of mass destruction.

Mr Gates's unequivocal message came during a conference of Asian defence ministers in Singapore. In his audience were representatives of the countries most threatened by Mr Kim – South Korea and Japan – and a delegation from China, North Korea's only ally.

"Dependent on the charity of the international community to alleviate the hunger and suffering of its people, North Korea's leadership has chosen to focus the North's limited energies and resources on a reckless and ultimately self-destructive quest for nuclear weapons," said Mr Gates.

"The policy of the United States has not changed: our goal is complete and verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula, and we will not accept North Korea as a nuclear weapons state." >>> By David Blair in Singapore | Saturday, May 300, 2009