Homosexual rights: taboo topics in Singapore elections

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Among the eleven record-breaking parties opposed to Singapore’s election on Friday, there has been virtual silence on one of the most controversial issues in the conservative-city state, gay rights.

Advocacy groups have stepped up awareness campaigns with results cards for politicians and online rallies in recent weeks on what they see as daily discrimination stemming from a rarely used law, the colonial era that prohibits sex between men.

But for some gay Singaporeans, casting their vote in the mandatory July 10 vote will serve as a reminder that they have few political allies on one of the issues that matters most to them.

“It’s a topic with the parties, the choices we have,” said Victor Ong, a 44-year-old Singaporean living with his British husband Harry, whom he married four years ago in London, and their amber-colored cat. Whiskey.

“As much as I want to make my decision based on their attitude to it, there’s no material to work with.”

Ong’s marriage is not recognized in Singapore, which means that the couple is not entitled to certain benefits such as housing and taxes. They also say they avoid public love performances due to concerns about the social norms set out in Law 377A which effectively criminalizes them.

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has previously called the law a “not easy compromise” as society “is not so liberal on these issues”.

The rights of homosexuals or 377A are not mentioned in the manifesto of his People’s Action Party, which has ruled Singapore since independence in 1965 and is expected to widely return to power, or that of any other party in the election.

Of the four main opposition parties, only the new Progress Party in Singapore responded to a request for comment. A spokesman said he did not oppose the abolition of the criminal penalty for homosexuals, but the debate over 377A was a “war zone with a power of attorney” on other issues such as family structures and marriage.

Political analyst Loke Hoe Yeong said the issue was considered “political suicide” for parties that think they will be punished by conservative or liberal voters.

However, advocacy groups are increasingly raising awareness about the issue, especially after India repealed a similar law in 2018.

“This tacit acceptance of the status quo is giving way to a sense of disappointment among young voters,” said Clement Tan of Pink Dot SG, who organized an online rally last month for Singapore’s LGBT community.

An ally has also appeared in Lee Hsien Yang, the prime minister’s half-brother and the son of the founder of the modern day city-state Lee Kuan Yew, who has become an increasingly vocal critic of the government on the eve of the vote.

“The wave of anti-discrimination mud in sexual orientation has swept the world,” Lee, whose son is gay and married overseas, told Reuters.

“The British, from whom we ‘inherited’ 377A, repealed it decades ago. A repeal simply decriminalizes and puts an end to this discrimination. ”

Nearly 70 countries around the world criminalize homosexual sex, mainly in Africa and the Middle East.

Another group of Sayon rights was severely changed before these elections. With mother parties on the issue, they decided to mark individual politicians in their LGBT stance by reviewing the public comments they had made and listing them from A to F.

Ong says he will vote Friday on “basic needs”, but hopes the future will bring changes from a younger generation more supportive of gay rights.

“We are Singapore’s boys and girls, regardless of whether we are gay or straight, and to vote, I think that should be taken into account.”