Parliament repeals Section 377A

Parliament on Tuesday voted to repeal a decades-old law criminalising gay sex, while endorsing changes to the Constitution to protect the current definition of marriage from legal challenge.

The repeal of Section 377A of the Penal Code, following a 10-hour debate over two days, saw 93 MPs voting in favour of the move.

Workers' Party MPs Gerald Giam (Aljunied GRC) and Dennis Tan (Hougang), and Nominated MP Hoon Hian Teck were the only three to vote against the repeal.

The constitutional amendment to introduce Article 156 saw 85 MPs vote in favour, while both Progress Singapore Party Non-Constituency MPs (NCMPs) voted against the move, and WP MPs Sylvia Lim (Aljunied GRC) and He Ting Ru (Sengkang GRC) abstained. Nominated MPs are not allowed to vote on constitutional amendments.

Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam said Parliament's overall choice showed that the House is the one to decide on issues of marriage rather than leaving the matter to the courts and living with the potential threat of the current definition being ruled unconstitutional.

During the debate, several MPs had raised concerns about the repeal leading to cancel culture - the practice of shutting down those with differing views.

Mr Shanmugam said the Law Ministry is looking at measures to deal with the harm caused by cancel campaigns online.

"People really ought to be free to stand by their beliefs, express their views with due respect for the feelings of others, without fearing being 'cancelled'," he said.

Rounding up the debate, Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli addressed concerns MPs had on religious freedom, sex education in schools and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender students.

He said it is the intention of the Government that there should not be a change in social norms following the repeal.

He reiterated that education policies and curricula remain anchored in Singapore's prevailing family values and social norms, which most Singaporeans want to uphold. These include the family as the cornerstone of society's social fabric, and marriage as between a man and a woman.

On religious freedom, he said: "Every person has the right to profess, propagate and practise his or her own religion, subject to public order, health and morality. Every religious group has the right to manage its own religious affairs."

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Tuesday wrote on Facebook that the amendment and repeal were a major milestone for Singapore.

"Taken together, these are balanced, wise steps forward. Even more important, we have got here together - calmly, with all sides showing restraint, listening to one another, and accepting compromises to achieve a good result," he wrote.

The Straits Times

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