The end of Section 377A
Introduced in 1938, repealed in 2022: how Singapore decriminalised sex between men.
On 21 August 2022, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced on national television that Singapore would repeal Section 377A. The announcement came in the National Day Rally, the most important political speech of the year. Sex between men would no longer be a criminal offence. It was the right thing to do, Lee said, and most Singaporeans would now accept it.
The section dates from 1938, from the British colonial era. It criminalised "gross indecency" between men, with up to two years in prison, even when both consented. There had been practically no convictions for decades. Its effect lay elsewhere. As long as the provision remained in the penal code, gay and bisexual men were regarded in law as potential criminals. A 2007 reform had decriminalised oral and anal sex, but explicitly excluded male couples from it.
Years in court had gone before. In 2014 the Court of Appeal refused to strike down the section and referred the question to parliament. In February 2022 it again dismissed a fresh challenge, but declared 377A effectively unenforceable.
The reactions came promptly. Téa Braun of the organisation Human Dignity Trust called the law archaic and discriminatory. Gay men in Singapore would no longer have to regard themselves as presumed criminals, she said. Leow Yangfa of the counselling service Oogachaga spoke of a decision that meant a great deal to the queer community.
The joy came with a catch, and Lee delivered it in the same speech. Alongside the repeal, the government would strengthen the legal protection of marriage as a union between a man and a woman. This put the opening of marriage far out of reach, and queer voices in the country called it deeply disappointing.