Courageous move with symbolic and real impact

A middle-aged woman came into the Oogachaga office, looking distraught. Her son had come out to her as gay and said he had a boyfriend, and she needed help to deal with the situation.

Mr Leow Yangfa, who is the executive director of the non-profit group that offers counselling and community services for the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) community, spoke to her. He urged her to support and accept him.

The woman retorted, speaking in Mandarin: "The Government says it's illegal, why should I accept it?"

The woman's anguish over her son's sexuality was worsened by the criminal sanction against gay sex in Section 377A of the Penal Code, a decades-old law from colonial times which criminalises sex between men.

While many countries have repealed it, Singapore has not. In a long and heated parliamentary debate in 2007, the Government urged restraint from both sides, and decided to keep the law, citing public opinion. But it would not actively enforce it, to avoid oppressing gay men.

Fifteen years on, attitudes have shifted, repeated constitutional challenges have whittled the legal legs on which the law stands, and it will be repealed soon.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his National Day Rally speech last night that repealing Section 377A was the right thing to do.

But the change would be done in a "controlled, carefully considered way". Constitutional changes will be introduced to protect the definition of male-female traditional marriage from challenges in court. This is to ward off future court challenges from activists who might argue for same-sex marriage equality. Meanwhile, rules on housing, education, adoption and media content will remain centred on the traditional family.

Asked for his response to the news last night, Mr Leow said that if he met the woman again, he would check in on her, and added: "With the government announcement, there is no reason to reject her son and his relationship. She can continue to love and support him as she always has."

Singapore is a law-abiding society, and repealing Section 377A to remove the criminal sanction against gay sex will improve the lived realities of gay men, and their families, significantly.

The change is not just symbolic.

Although not enforced, the law hangs like a Damoclean sword over the gay community. Gay people have lived with the existential shame of loving under the banner of illegality for years, despite the reprieve from enforcement. Legal sanction also carries social costs - those deemed criminal by society often become targets of discrimination and abuse. LGBTQ support groups expect decriminalisation to encourage more gay men to come out and seek help, and they are getting resources ready.

The repeal should be welcomed by all, not just by the LGBTQ community, for righting a wrong and for creating an environment where gay people are accepted more fully.

I have covered and written about the gay lobby and Section 377A issues for over 20 years, and developed a growing conviction that keeping such a law that targets men for consenting sex with other men in private was a blight on the national conscience.

Repealing it is a matter of respecting a human right, not a concession to a minority. But, to be honest, over the years, I had given up thinking it would be repealed within my professional lifespan.

In deciding to move ahead to repeal S377A, despite a strong conservative push to retain the status quo, this Government is showing moral courage and political leadership to do the right thing.

But as PM Lee noted, the move will not please everybody. Some will say it is too modest a move; others would prefer the status quo to remain.

And while some LGBTQ activists will say the move is 15 years too late, PM Lee has a point in saying that the issue was too divisive in 2007.

Politics is about the art of the possible, and delaying a contentious change, even if it is the right one, has its merits.

It is 2022; attitudes have shifted; a younger population with very different views on homosexuality is coming of age. Meanwhile, the nation has pulled together through a global pandemic, and the geopolitical and geo-economic environments look threatening.

Most importantly, there has been time to consult stakeholders and build a kind of consensus on the way forward.

Repealing S377A is the right thing to do, as PM Lee said, but is also not a big deal in the scheme of things. There are many other more pressing matters on hand.

In most of his Rally speech, PM Lee sketched a picture of a Singapore emerging stronger from the pandemic, and charging full steam ahead. There are plans for a mega port at Tuas, another airport terminal at Changi, and plans for major urban renewal. It will also open its doors to global talent.

New hardware is always ineffective without updated software. And so a country with gleaming new infrastructure also needs fresh mindsets.

The ongoing Forward Singapore exercise to forge a renewed social compact is one major move to refresh Singapore's software.

Repealing S377A can thus also be seen in that light, an archaic law that kept Singapore in the company of societies like Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

The promised constitutional amendments should also stave off fears that repeal will push Singapore down the slippery slope towards aggressively pro-gay agendas and same-sex marriage equality.

Societies take years to evolve. It took Singapore decades to move from prohibiting gay sex to permitting it. It will be a long stretch, if ever, before Singapore society ever promotes it as the norm.

Meanwhile, teaching students to respect and accept gay people should be as uncontroversial as teaching them to respect and accept people of different genders, races, or abilities. Respecting minority groups should be a cardinal value all young Singaporeans grow up with, given how culturally diverse we are as a society. Such values of acceptance and inclusivity can coexist harmoniously within a framework that also accepts the societal norm of heterosexual marriage and children born within marriage.

To me, the most heartening takeaway from the clear commitment to repeal S377A is that this Government will not shun from doing the hard thing, if it is the right thing to do. This is certainly not a vote-getting move, given that gay men make up only a small proportion of the population.

In trying to settle this issue sooner rather than later, PM Lee and his team clearly hope to deflect any political fallout from the incoming 4G or fourth-generation team of leaders. But as a citizen, I would like to know just what the new team thinks about the move. They should speak freely during the coming debate.

Having decided on repeal, the Government will next have to devote its energy to forging a consensus on safeguarding traditional marriage. All groups should heed PM Lee's advice, and exercise restraint in their demands, to avoid a pushback that can polarise society.