Status of Singapore's LGBT community

     According to Amnesty International, in 2019, 28 out of 195 countries have legalised same-sex marriage. With the LGBT movement gaining more and more support from different people and organisations, governments are slowly beginning to change their stance regarding the LGBT community. In 2017, Taiwan became the first-ever Asian region to legalise Same-sex marriage, and on 8th July 2019, Ecuador became the latest country to legalise same-sex marriage.  ​      

(Taiwan LGBT supports taking part in an LGBT pride parade)

     Despite the worldwide progress that has been made in the past 20 years regarding this issue, the LGBT community is still not properly recognised in Asia. Taiwan is still the only state where Same-Sex marriage is legal. Also out of the 13 countries that hold death penalties for engaging in homosexual actions, 9 of them being Asian. Furthermore, discrimination towards the LGBT community is still a big issue faced in countries that have legalised same-sex marriage.   
​     Singapore is one of the many countries that are facing issues regarding LGBT rights. Singapore is one of the 74 countries that has banned homosexual activities between men and the law that prohibits this is called S377A. This penal code was added to the Singapore legislature during the 1930s but in recent years there has been a lot of talks, debates, and demonstrations regarding S377A.

Support towards Singapore’s LGBT community:

    According to the National University of Singapore, there are currently 210,000 men who are part of the LGBT community. Also in 2019, according to a survey taken by a newspaper agency called “today online”, 11.4% of the respondents thought that same-sex marriage should be legal. This is more than double the number of people who had this kind of response to the same survey in 2013 (5.6%).       
​     With more and more citizens in Singapore beginning to support same-sex marriage, the pressure to repeal S377A is increasing. Therefore the significance and the voices of Singapore’s LGBT organisations are rising. The 2017 pink Dot (One of the biggest LGBT organisations in Singapore) demonstration at Hong Lim Park resulted in a turnout of approximately 20,000 people, compared to the demonstration in 2009 when the turnout was approximately 1,000.

​(The 2015 pink dot annual demonstration)

     Companies that are based in Singapore are also creating and signing pledges to reduce the discrimination towards the LGBT community. For example, this year 17 companies including Dell and Spa Esprit group have signed a pledge to reduce LGBT discrimination.         
     The increasing support has brought out a large number of cases to parliament to repeal S377A. According to the Straits Times during October 2019, 3 court cases have been filed to repeal S377A, and another court case was filed in November in the same year.       
     These actions taken by Singaporean citizens have brought significant impacts, according to The Guardian, in 2007 Singapore have legalised sexual activities between heterosexuals, and in 2018 a homosexual Singaporean had managed to win the right to adopt a child despite it being banned by S377A.

​Singapore governments perspective

     Despite the increasing support for Singapore’s LGBT community, the Singaporean government is still in favour to keep S377A. For instance, during a Parliament sitting on 22-10-2007, Singapore’s senior minister of State for home, affairs mentioned that “Singaporeans are still a largely conservative society, the Majority finds homosexual behaviour offensive and unacceptable”. The Deputy Speaker of the sitting Matthias Yao Chih claimed that “There will be pressure to change our curricula in our schools. Do we want to see our children being taught that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle choice?”. A number of other comments and arguments were made towards S377A but most of these comments and arguments were in favor to retain S377A.      
     Similar remarks have been made by Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong “The more LGBT activists push this agenda, the stronger will be the push back from conservative forces, The result will be counterproductive because it’s going to lead to less space for the LGBT community in Singapore”.

(Singapore’s Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong speaks during the parliament sitting)

Singapore’s commitment to S377A:

     Singapore has continuously claimed that Singapore’s LGBT issue is something that should naturally evolve, therefore S377A of the Singaporean legislature should be kept. Despite this, in previous years the Singaporean government hasn’t placed much effort in enforcing S377A. This lack of enforcement is what allows Singapore’s LGBT groups to undertake actions on a big scale.
​     Examples such as Pink Dot’s annual demonstrations at Speaker’s corner in Singapore and petitions that other LGBT groups such as “People like us” and “SG rainbow” undertake.      
     Also, the support for these LGBT groups is growing, the attendance for the Pink dot demonstrations has grown by 19,000 people in the space of 8 years. The efforts to repeal S377A are on the rise as well, between October and December in 2019 4 court cases were filed to the parliament to repeal S377A.      
     Despite these actions, the Singaporean government seems unlikely that they will repeal this law anytime soon. To quote prime Minster, Lee Hsien Loong “Singapore is a conservative society, The family is the basic building block of the society, And by a family in Singapore, we mean one man, one woman, marrying, having children and bringing up children within that framework of a stable family unit”.