[2], On 21 August 2022, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced during the annual National Day Rally that the government intends to repeal Section 377A, effectively ending criminalisation both de facto and de jure. However, the status quo on the gay sex law was maintained. Legal records show that Indian legislators in the 19th and early 20th centuries interpreted "carnal intercourse against the order of nature" between individuals (of all sexes - the law being non-gender specific with its use of the word "whoever") to include anal sex, bestiality and, often after much courtroom deliberation, oral sex as well, namely, any form of sexual intercourse which did not have the potential for procreation. Share this via Email Kissing is the most common although there are several others. 427 Punishment for committing mischief causing disruption to key service, etc. Macaulay's draft included a Section 377, a statute based on English criminal law which sought to prohibit "buggery" or sodomy, largely taken to mean anal sex between men. In 2018, an Ipsos survey found that 55% of Singapore residents supported retaining Section 377A. The exercise took over a year and gathered extensive feedback from the public via the press, the Internet and live forums. [29][30] The case was heard in camera on 14 February 2013,[31] and decided against them by justice Quentin Loh on 9 April 2013, for much the same reasons as his decision against Tan (above). Sri Lanka, the Seychelles and Papua New Guinea have the key wording In view of the disappointing ruling of the Court of Appeal, we urge the Singapore Parliament to repeal Section 377A as a first step towards protecting and promoting the human rights of LGBTQ+ individuals in Singapore. On 29 August 2018, Professor Ho Kwon Ping in his talk questioned the need for Section 377A in Singapore. [1] On 28 February 2022, the Court of Appeal of the Supreme Court of Singapore reaffirmed that 377A cannot be used to prosecute men for having gay sex. 2. Section 377 became effective as part of the British-imposed Indian Penal Code from January 1, 1862, and was adopted by the colonial masters, also as Section 377 into the Straits Settlements Penal Code in 1871. Tunis Office: +216 71 962 287, Commissioners from Middle East & North Africa, Part Three: from the 1990s into the 21st century, Americas: ICJs presence in Central America, as LGBTQ+ groups and activists in Singapore, Turkey: ICJ intervenes in support of access to justice for civil society in environmental cases, Eswatini: The judiciary can and should play a critical role in enhancing access to justice for persons with disabilities, Lesotho: Chief Justice Sakoane Sakoane calls for the cultivation of an LGBTIQ sensitive culture in Lesotho, Survivor to testify at German Trial of Alleged Gambian Death Squad Driver, The Egyptian human rights coalition on cop 27 Petition, Rampant xenophobia and racial discrimination against non-citizens in South Africa (UN Statement). [37], On 29 October 2014, more than four years after the original challenge by Tan, the Court of Appeal, the highest court in Singapore, rejected Lim and Chee's challenge, finally ending the case. 367 Kidnapping or abducting in order to subject a person to grievous hurt, slavery, etc. The effect of decriminalising oral and anal sex for heterosexual couples but not for male homosexual ones was to enshrine discrimination against gay Singaporeans in the law. Following the recent court ruling Amnesty International, ILGA Asia, the International Commission of Jurists and Human Rights Watch call on the Singapore Parliament to repeal Section 377A and uphold the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex individuals. Earlier this year, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said the Government is considering "the best way forward" on the section .