Majority for gay sex ban

Singapore – A slim majority of Singaporeans still support a law that bans gay sex, an online survey showed yesterday, amid renewed debate on whether the city-state should follow India’s footsteps and scrap similar British colonial-era legislation.

Previous legal challenges to overturn the ban failed but a prominent Singapore diplomat called on the gay community to renew legal action against the law, a day after India’s top court decriminalised gay sex in a landmark ruling.

Fifty-five percent of 750 Singaporeans surveyed by independent market research and consulting firm Ipsos still supported the ban.

In the Ipsos poll, 12% opposed the law, while 33% were neither for or against it.

Ipsos conducted the online poll of people aged between 15-65 years over four days in late July and early August.

Under Section 377A of Singapore’s Penal Code, a man found to have committed an act of “gross indecency” with another man could be jailed for up to two years, although prosecutions are rare. The law does not apply to homosexual acts between women.

Singapore lawmakers remain typically cautious over social reforms, partly due to sensitivities stemming from the ethnic and religious mix among Singapore’s 5.6 million inhabitants. –Reuters