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May 2, 2013
Singapore judge's decision 'major setback' says Human Rights Watch

Yale University and companies with headquarters in Singapore should condemn judge's upholding of anti-gay law, says Human Rights Watch speaking exclusively to Gay Star News

Human Rights Watch has vigorously condemned last month's decision by Justice Quentin Loh in Singapore's High Court to uphold a law criminalizing consensual gay sex.

'I was stunned because I thought that this was a very clear breach of equality before the law,' said deputy director Asia of Human Rights Watch, Phil Robertson, speaking exclusively to Gay Star News.

April 18, 2013
Fundraising campaign launched to fight anti-gay court ruling in Singapore

Campaign aims to raise $50,000 to challenge judge's ruling that anti-gay law should remain

A group of LGBT rights activists in Singapore has launched a fundraising campaign to mount an appeal against a recent court decision to kept anti-gay law Section 377A which criminalizes sex between men.

Gay couple Gary Lim and Kenneth Chee launched a constitutional challenge against Section 377A. Their lawyer argued that the law challenges Singapore's constitution which says all citizens must be treated equally before the law.

April 9, 2013
Singapore judge rules gay sex ban must stay

The case against Section 377A in Singapore’s High Court fails as Justice Quentin Loh says the anti-gay sex law is a ‘social norm’

Singapore’s High Court has dismissed a case by gay partners Gary Lim and Kenneth Chee designed to scrap the law which bans gay male sex.

LGBT people in Singapore have already said they will appeal the case to the Court of Appeal.

April 3, 2013
Gay magazine launching in Singapore

Despite gay sex still being illegal in Singapore, a magazine strap-lined 'the voice of gay Asia' is launching in the city-state this month

Gay Asia is getting it's first 'proper high-fashion lifestyle publication' according to its founder, Hirokazu Mizuhara, speaking to Campaign Asia-Pacific.

Element launches this month, published online only to bypass Singapore's censorship laws.

March 7, 2013
Lawyers clash in court challenge of Singapore's anti-gay sex law

Human rights lawyer says Singapore's Section 377A which criminalizes gay sex is 'inherently absurd, arbitrary, vague and discriminatory'

A case challenging constitutionality of anti-gay sex law was heard in the High Court in Singapore yesterday morning.

Human rights lawyer M Ravi went head-to-head with Aedit Abdullah, a lawyer from Singapore's Attorney-General's Chambers, the government's legal advisors.

The case, Tan Eng Hong v. Attorney-General, began in 2010 when Tan was charged for having sex with a man in a public toilet under Section 377A, the law which criminalizes sex between men.

After several court cases, the constitutional validity of the law is being challenged.

February 18, 2013
Singapore law minister: we won’t repeal anti-gay sex law

In a meeting with religious leaders, Singapore’s law minister, said the city-state’s anti-gay sex law will not be repealed nor will it be enforced

Singapore will not repeal the anti-sodomy laws that criminalizes gay sex, affirmed Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam, Singapore’s law minister, to an influential Christian group.

According to the reports from LoveSingapore’s Facebook page, a group network of 100 churches, the minister attended a meeting with its leaders to discuss LGBT rights today (18 February).

February 12, 2013
Scrap 'archaic' gay sex laws, rights watchdogs tell India

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have urged the Indian government to review legislation criminalizing same-sex relations

Two of the world's leading human rights watchdogs have demanded India scraps its 'archaic and discriminatory' laws against gay sex today (12 February).

Amnesty International and Humans Rights Watch today urged the Indian government to repeal laws including section 377 of the penal code which criminalizes same-sex relations.

Indian president Pranab Mukherjee signed the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2013 on 3 February, reforming many of India's old colonial-era laws on sexual violence, but did not repeal section 377.

January 30, 2013
'I think we'll just leave it,' says Singapore's Prime Minister about anti-gay law

Despite a legal challenge to Section 377A, the law that criminalizes gay sex in Singapore, prime minister indicates law will remain 

Singapore's prime minister Lee has indicated that he does not believe Section 377A, the law that criminalizes gay sex, should be repealed.

A delegate at the Institute of Policy Studies' Singapore Perspectives conference yesterday asked why a secular country like Singapore has 'an old and archaic law that nearly discriminates against a whole [group] of people'.

January 30, 2013
Popstar A-mei celebrates gay rights at Singapore gig

Taiwanese singer promotes gay rights at concert at Singapore Indoor Stadium

Taiwanese popstar A-mei showed her support for gay rights at a concert in Singapore last Saturday 26 January.

The singer, who has been recording music since 1996 and is extremely popular in the Mandarin-speaking world, waved a rainbow flag and said love all around whether it's man-man, woman-woman or man-woman.

While A-mei sang her song Cai Hong (meaning rainbow) a camera zoomed in on couples in the crowd, showing them on a big screen on stage. When the camera focused on gay couple there were loud cheers from the audience.

January 23, 2013
Singapore Christians rally for battle against repeal of anti-gay law

Attorney-General warns of risk of prejudice to court cases if heated public debate continues

Christian pastors in Singapore are showing that they are not going to allow an anti-gay law to be repealed without a fight.

Pastor Yang Tuck Yoong of Cornerstone Community Church told Straits Times that church leaders have met several times over the last month to discuss a collective response to the court case currently challenging Singapore's Section 377A, the colonial era law that criminalizes gay sex. 

January 17, 2013
Singapore pastor warns former prime minister of 'looming threat' of gay sex law repeal

Pastor at Singapore 'megachurch' tells former prime minister Goh Chok Tong to protect the 'family' from repeal of gay sex law

Singapore pastor Lawrence Khong took the opportunity of a visit from a former prime minister to his 'megachurch' to warn about the 'looming threat' of the repeal of Section 377A which criminalizes gay sex.

December 14, 2012
British government should take responsibility for colonial sodomy laws, says Human Rights Watch

Human Rights Watch deputy director, Asia, tells Gay Star News that the UK government should publicly denounce anti-gay laws that were set up by the British empire

The British government should do more to persuade ex-colonies to repeal anti-gay laws, Phil Robertson the deputy director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch told Gay Star News yesterday.

Former British colonies Singapore, Malaysia, Burma, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and other countries in Asia, Africa and the Caribbean still carry Section 377 or similar versions of the British-empire-era law that criminalizes gay sex.

November 2, 2012
Yale hosts Singaporean gay rights movement lecture

Lecture informs debate over America’s most gay-friendly Ivy League university opening a campus in a state where homosexuality is illegal

In an attempt to placate the controversy around America’s most gay-friendly Ivy League university opening a campus in a state where homosexuality is illegal, Yale hosted a lecture about the gay rights movement in Singapore on Wednesday.

National University of Singapore (NUS) law professor Lynette Chua gave the lecture which was based on research interviewing 100 Singaporean gay rights activists.