A group of
Singaporeans submitted a petition to decriminalize gay sex
to parliament on Monday, saying a government proposal
to legalize oral and anal sex for heterosexual adults
only in Singapore was unjust.
The petition,
signed by 2,341 people in three days, was presented to
lawmakers as part of a debate Monday on the most extensive
revision of the city-state's penal code in 23 years.
Under the
proposed legislative changes, oral and anal sex between
consenting heterosexual adults would no longer be considered
an offense. But Section 377a, which deals with the
same acts between men, would remain in force with a
maximum penalty of two years in jail.
Ho Peng Kee,
senior minister of state for law and home affairs, said the
nation was keeping the ban on gay sex because it was what
the majority of Singaporeans desired.
"Public feedback
on this issue has been emotional, divided, and
strongly expressed, with the majority calling for its
retention," Ho said. "Singaporeans are still a largely
conservative society. The majority find homosexual
behavior offensive and unacceptable."
Ho said
authorities would continue to not actively enforce the
provision banning gay sex. He said the law has been
used in instances when minors were exploited and
abused or when male adults committed the offense in
public.
While saying gays
have "a place in society," Ho said repealing section
377a "may send the wrong signal that government is endorsing
a homosexual lifestyle as a part of our mainstream way of
life."
But Siew Kum
Hong, the lawmaker who presented the petition to parliament,
said it was not the objective of criminal law to reflect the
morality of the majority.
"In times past
and in other countries, public morality has been used
to justify slavery, discrimination against racial and
religious minorities, and discrimination against
women," Siew said. "Let us not perpetuate or repeat
the mistakes of others in the past."
Stuart Koe, an
AIDS activist and one of the petitioners, said keeping the
ban without actively enforcing it risked bringing disrepute
to the law.
"It's like having
a gun put to your head but no one pulling the trigger.
Either put the gun down or pull the trigger. Decide what you
want to do," said Koe, who is also chief executive of Hong
Kong-based Fridae.com, an Internet-based community of
gays and lesbians in Asia.
Singapore has a
thriving gay community that Koe estimates at between
200,000 and 300,000 people out of a population of 4.5
million.
The petition was
met with a petition from another group for the retention
of the law. The group said it had collected 15,560
signatures. (Gillian Wong, AP)