Singapore activists challenge ‘gay sex ban’

The participants at Pink Dot, an annual event organized in support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, gather in formation to call for the repeal of Section 377A of the Penal Code in Singapore on June 29. REUTERS/FELINE LIM -/FILE PHOTO
The participants at Pink Dot, an annual event organized in support of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community, gather in formation to call for the repeal of Section 377A of the Penal Code in Singapore on June 29. REUTERS/FELINE LIM -/FILE PHOTO

SINGAPORE – The country’s top court heard challenges to its colonial-era gay sex law for the first time since similar legislation was scrapped in India last year.

The initial hearing of the cases was held on Wednesday and will continue over the next few weeks. 

Three activists urged that Section 377A – a rarely-used law under which a man found to have committed an act of “gross indecency” with another man could be jailed for up to two years – is unconstitutional, according to their lawyers and local media reports.

The law does not apply to lesbians.(Reuters)

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