Friday, October 26, 2007
Section 377A
What is it exactly? Its a section in the Singapore Penal Code making homosexual intercourse between males illegal while not saying anything about females.
On the surface, its an outdated piece of colonial legacy. A unfair piece of legislature aimed at male homosexuals. A ridiculous and unenforceable law.
First, a brief background on where it came from. It came from the British who saw much wanton sex in their colonies such as bestiality and homosexual pedophillia. That formed Section 377, weird acts of intercourse. This means in our efforts to change an outdated law due to modernisation and what not is really taking us back to pre-colonial days.
Second, the unfortunate fact of the matter in sexual urges is that males are more susceptible to them than females.This was probably why it only points at male homosexuals.
I find it surprising that we do not have laws against homosexual sex regardless of gender but the context is 19th Century India and Singapore. Repealing S377A due to this technicality would actually be slightly less logical than expanding the law to make it gender neutral.
Thirdly, its ridiculous and unenforceable due to privacy issues rather than anything else. This makes it more like intellectual property violations where it is unenforceable but th law is still upheld. As for ridiculous, I think its not so. There were those among my friends who said its making Singapore a laughing stock. Then the world must be laughing at much of Asia. We have not chosen to follow the West in activities which will destroy this country such as welfare and increased democracy. Though all three (democracy, welfare, homosexual sex) will not be as destructive in the short run, if allowed to progress unchecked will hurt out country as it has the Western nations.
The act of repealing Section 377A is meaningless and a mere formality. It does not change what is happening now in people's bedrooms. That is also the most ideal case for Singaporeans. Unfortunately, life isnt so simple. Humans are greedy, gay activists will see the opportunity to demand (not ask) for more homosexual-friendly legislature, thus starting the avalanche of problems which we never should need to deal with.
A mere small stone rolling down a mountain can cause an avalanche so are we ready for it? Are we really modern enough to deal with the consequences of repealing Section 377A? I am in no position to say but judging from the problems faced by 'modern' nations which have gay-friendly legislature, i doubt any country will ever be.
What is it exactly? Its a section in the Singapore Penal Code making homosexual intercourse between males illegal while not saying anything about females.
On the surface, its an outdated piece of colonial legacy. A unfair piece of legislature aimed at male homosexuals. A ridiculous and unenforceable law.
First, a brief background on where it came from. It came from the British who saw much wanton sex in their colonies such as bestiality and homosexual pedophillia. That formed Section 377, weird acts of intercourse. This means in our efforts to change an outdated law due to modernisation and what not is really taking us back to pre-colonial days.
Second, the unfortunate fact of the matter in sexual urges is that males are more susceptible to them than females.This was probably why it only points at male homosexuals.
I find it surprising that we do not have laws against homosexual sex regardless of gender but the context is 19th Century India and Singapore. Repealing S377A due to this technicality would actually be slightly less logical than expanding the law to make it gender neutral.
Thirdly, its ridiculous and unenforceable due to privacy issues rather than anything else. This makes it more like intellectual property violations where it is unenforceable but th law is still upheld. As for ridiculous, I think its not so. There were those among my friends who said its making Singapore a laughing stock. Then the world must be laughing at much of Asia. We have not chosen to follow the West in activities which will destroy this country such as welfare and increased democracy. Though all three (democracy, welfare, homosexual sex) will not be as destructive in the short run, if allowed to progress unchecked will hurt out country as it has the Western nations.
The act of repealing Section 377A is meaningless and a mere formality. It does not change what is happening now in people's bedrooms. That is also the most ideal case for Singaporeans. Unfortunately, life isnt so simple. Humans are greedy, gay activists will see the opportunity to demand (not ask) for more homosexual-friendly legislature, thus starting the avalanche of problems which we never should need to deal with.
A mere small stone rolling down a mountain can cause an avalanche so are we ready for it? Are we really modern enough to deal with the consequences of repealing Section 377A? I am in no position to say but judging from the problems faced by 'modern' nations which have gay-friendly legislature, i doubt any country will ever be.
# posted by Ian @ 7:27 AM 
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