Phil C. W. Chan

Opinion | Singapore’s decision to end ban on gay sex under Section 377A is not something to celebrate

The Singapore government’s notion that gay men aspire to respect and acceptance entrenches discrimination and marginalisation of LGBTQ people in society

The fundamental question Singaporeans must ask is what kind of society they want in relation to not just sexual minority rights but all aspects of governance

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Supporters attend the annual Pink Dot event in a public show of support for the LGBTQ community at Hong Lim Park in Singapore on June 18. Photo: AFP

Phil C. W. Chan

Published: 9:15am, 31 Aug 2022

I wore full yellow at the Hong Kong rallies in London on July 1 and 21 last year. Several Hongkongers were perturbed at my choice of colours. According to them, Hongkongers in the UK should wear black and be invisible lest we upset the apple cart and sully our reputation as perfect, “normal” guests.

Not even in Hong Kong after the enactment of the national security law was I told I couldn’t wear this or that colour. I wore full yellow at a Hong Kong police station in October 2019 in reporting a crime.

I wore full yellow at the rallies not only in mourning of a cause now taboo in Hong Kong but out of an innate need for self-protection. As someone who has been openly gay since turning 12 in the 1990s and dropped out of school at 13 as a result of homophobic bullying and assaults that my teachers in Stanley endorsed and perpetuated, I have long found comfort in bright-coloured clothing in the same way a golden dart frog need not fear attacks from behind.

Nevertheless, talk of normalcy had me ponder the value of rights and freedoms among Hong Kong émigrés. LGBTQ people everywhere are accustomed to being called not normal, abnormal or less than human. That they need to stay quiet and invisible is why the closet is an enduring feature of society.

Singapore’s government announced last Sunday it would repeal Section 377A of the Penal Code that criminalised sexual activity between men. Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Singapore “[needs] to find the right way to reconcile and accommodate both the traditional mores of our society and the aspiration of gay Singaporeans to be respected and accepted”. Social media lit up with messages of joy and solidarity. I couldn’t help feeling contempt.

02:30

Singapore to scrap anti-gay sex law, but upholds ban on same-sex marriage

Solidarity is meaningful only when it happens before the event, not after. Even a non-Singaporean such as me published peer-reviewed work on why and how sexual minority rights should be recognised as “shared values” of Singapore as early as 2009 when I was a doctoral candidate at the National University of Singapore. At the time, LGBTQ rights were considered at best a peripheral area and at worst “self-outing” in academia. In Singapore, they still are.