SINGAPORE: Singapore is hearing a constitutional challenge to the city-state's long held criminalization of gay sex after a gay couple in the city filed a lawsuit on Friday over the matter. Although lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) activists have repeatedly praised the government's efforts to become more tolerant to the LGBT community in the Southeast Asian country, gay sex remains illegal on the books, which is said to be “an act of gross indecency” and carries a maximum jail sentence of two years. The couple filing the lawsuit, Gary Lim and Kenneth Chee, put their challenge with Singapore's High Court. Chee said they did so not because of any immediate fears, but because “I know that section 377A labels me a criminal.” The case comes after a man was arrested in August for having oral sex with another man in a shopping mall toilet. When he applied to have the law declared unconstitutional as it violated his right to personal liberty, the charge was converted to a different section of the law governing obscene acts in a public place. The man was subsequently fined 3,000 Singapore dollars ($2,460). Choo Zhengxi, one of the lawyers representing Lim and Chee, said citizens in Singapore are legally allowed to make such challenges if they belong to a group that is believed to be discriminated by any law that violates personal rights. Sujith Kumar, a 24-year old student and co-founder of Purple Alliance, a group that advocates for equal rights among the gay community in Singapore, said he supports the legal challenge because the current law “irrationally criminalizes the gay community.” The debate over gay rights in Singapore has increased dramatically in recent months, with more and more LGBT activists willing to speak openly about their rights. Still, there remains much to be desired, said National University of Singapore (NUS) assistant professor of law Lynette Chua at a Yale University lecture in the United States entitled “Singapore's Gay Rights Movement: Past, Present and Future." The talk garnered a large response from Singapore's LGBT community, who praised Chua for taking the effort to inform other parts of the world on their movement and their faith that change is coming. Chua, whose research concentrates on the relationship between law and the gay rights movements in Southeast Asia, traced the movement from its beginnings in the early 1990s to the present, emphasizing the guerilla tactics gay rights activists in Singapore have had to employ to advocate their cause while simultaneously placating the ruling Singaporean party. “Gay rights activists in Singapore have learned to deal with the political and social norms and signals — the stuff that's not written in the books," Chua said. Chua, who interviewed 100 gay rights activists in Singapore as part of her research, said activists there have had to adapt their advocacy to national political climate. “As the movement evolved over the years," she said, “members of the LGBTQ community in Singapore have learned to employ ‘pragmatic resistance' — a process that entails looking out for shifts in Singapore's political culture that might allow the movement to further its aims." “If you want to get somewhere without ending up in jail," Chua said, “you have to employ non-confrontational tactics." She added that Singaporean gay rights activists address LGBT issues “by focusing on specific problems rather than by advocating a general change in mindset." Chua raised the example of the 2010 Tan Eng Hong case, which challenged the constitutionality of Section 377A of Singapore's penal code — legislation that criminalizes sexual intercourse between two adult men. Though the law remains in place, Chua said, “the fact that 21 members of parliament debated the issue was a victory for the Singaporean LGBTQ community. “The shifting attitude — from the police raiding gay bars only decades ago to the government acknowledging the presence of gay people in Singapore — is a step forward for the gay rights movement," she said. Marina and Jun, a lesbian couple, dressed in shorts and t-shirts are hopeful about the future for the gay community in Singapore, despite a lack of any noticeable push by the government to amend legislation that continues to criminalize the LGBT lifestyle. They told Bikyamasr.com that they heard of Chua's lecture from friends in the US and hope that more efforts to push the LGBT understanding across the globe. While they believe there is not much to be excited about, there is still optimism after recent events to promote LGBT tolerance in the city-state. “Definitely this is a great moment for Singapore," Jun told Bikyamasr.com. “Look at the light we are giving off. People are changing their perception of gay people and it is only a matter of time before Singapore will lead the region on these issues."
