The High Court has dismissed a legal claim by gay partners Gary Lim and Kenneth Chee that Section 377A of the Penal Code, which criminalises sex between two men, was discriminatory and unconstitutional.

In his 92-page judgment, Justice Quentin Loh said that Singapore's society in the midst of change, and in a case where the change in a "particular long-held social norm" has yet to gain currency, a court is "hard put" to decide whether to retain or discard that social norm.

That decision, he said, is best left to Parliament, and he noted that Parliament had voted to retain Section 377A in 2007.

The case is one of two legal challenges against the law that are in the Courts. In the other case, involving massage therapist Tan Eng Hong, the Judge had reserved judgment during a hearing in March.