AsiaHomosexuality in SingaporeCrime and no punishmentAn anti-gay law is allowed to stay―so long as it is not enforcedIN A REGION where governments often disregard or contort their own laws, Singapore stands out for punctilious observance.That is why a recent judgment from its high court raised eyebrows.On February 28th the Court of Appeal dismissed a challenge brought by three gay-rights activists against a law, dating from the colonial era, that criminalises sex between men.The legislation will remain on the books―yet the court has in effect told the government it can carry on pretending it does not exist.Section 377A of the Penal Code, which punishes acts of “gross indecency” between men with up to two years in jail, is a “lightning rod for polarisation”, as the justices put it.They have done their best not to get electrocuted.The court sidestepped the question of the law’s constitutionality by arguing that the judges had to take into account the government’s stance.When parliament debated 377A in 2007, Lee Hsien Loong, the prime minister, declared that it would remain but would not be “proactively enforced”.
