Singapore will repeal a law banning homosexuality, effectively legalizing it, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced on a national channel, the BBC reported on Sunday.
“I think it’s the right thing to do and something that most Singaporeans will accept,” he said on Sunday.
“Homosexuals are more accepted today,” he said, adding that repeal of the existing law would allow Singapore to “be in step with current customs.”
“I hope this offers some kind of relief to gay people in Singapore,” he added.
Law 377A, currently in force, criminalizes sexual relations between men. In fact, it is considered a ban on homosexuality.
Any movie or series that is considered to “promote homosexuality” may be banned from the country’s channels.
A law inherited from colonial times
However, Singapore’s prime minister clarified on Sunday that the forthcoming opening of marriage to same-sex couples was not on the agenda and that it was seen as strengthening the definition of marriage as an alliance solely between a man and a woman.
The repeal of this law has been demanded for a long time by a growing part of the population of Singapore.
Inherited from colonial times, Singapore chose to keep it in place in 1965 when it gained independence from the United Kingdom.
Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in 2019.
Source: BFM TV
