SINGAPORE: A man has filed a court challenge against Singapore's gay sex law, saying that it is inconsistent with parts of the Constitution.
According to court papers, Mr Johnson Ong Ming's case argues that Section 377A of the Penal Code is inconsistent with three articles in the Constitution concerning liberty of a person and equal protection.
AdvertisementAccording to 377A, any male person who commits or tries to get another male person to commit "any act of gross indecency with another male person", whether in public or private, can be jailed for up to two years.
The first of three articles in the Constitution that Mr Ong refers to says that "no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty save in accordance with law".
The other two articles state that "all persons are equal before the law and entitled to the equal protection of the law", and "there shall be no discrimination against citizens of Singapore on the ground only of religion, race, descent or place of birth in any law".
Mr Ong, who will be represented by lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, contends that Section 377A is "accordingly void" as it is inconsistent with the Constitution.
AdvertisementAdvertisementIn response to queries by Channel NewsAsia, Mr Thuraisingam’s law firm said on Wednesday (Sep 12) that it will argue that Section 377A “violates human dignity”.
As sexual orientation is “unchangeable or suppressible at unacceptable personal cost”, criminalising its manifestation is “absurd” and “arbitrary”, Mr Thuraisingam will contend.
He will provide expert evidence to prove his points, and note that “an unusually large number of legal developments in various jurisdictions have occurred in a short span of time” since 2014, when the last legal challenge against 377A was mounted in Singapore.
Mr Ong, who is 43 years old and a disc jockey, filed the challenge with the High Court on Monday, the Straits Times reported.
This was a few days after India ruled to decriminalise consensual gay sex in the country, a move that sparked discussion in the local community on repealing Section 377A of the Singapore Penal Code.
[h=3]READ: Singapore society has to decide which direction it wants to take on laws against gay sex, says Shanmugam[/h]Veteran Singapore diplomat Tommy Koh called for Singapore's gay community to challenge 377A last week.
The ambassador-at-large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made the comments in response to a Facebook post on India's landmark ruling.
Legal challenges against the law, in 2014, had failed, but Professor Koh said: "Try again."
Chief of Government Communications Janadas Devan also wrote on his Facebook page that he personally supports Prof Koh's position.
Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam had said it is up to Singapore's society to decide which direction it wants to take on gay sex legislation.
A pre-trial conference for Mr Ong's case will be heard on Sep 25.
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