Fridae

Tan Eng Hong was fined S$3,000 by a district court for performing fellatio on another man in a public toilet.

Lawyer M Ravi, who had filed the legal action on behalf of his client seeking to challenge the constitutionality of Section 377A, tells Fridae that he plans to appeal the High Court's decision.

A lawyer in Singapore who intends to challenge the constitutionality of Section 377A may be unable to do so if the challenge is dismissed on the basis that the charge brought against his client has been amended. Alex Au considers the issues.

A 40-year-old man in Singapore has been fined S$3,000 after being found guilty of performing an obscene act in a public place.

Despite the Prime Minister’s promise not to proactively enforce Section 377A which criminalises sex between men, a man is facing charges under the law while another two were convicted last week.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on countries to abolish laws that discriminate against gays and lesbians during a panel discussion held on the sidelines of the 15th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council. 

Ahead of the biennial 2009 Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit to be held Nov 27-29, representatives of gay groups from ten countries including Singapore, Malaysia and India are attending a parallel conference called the Commonwealth People's Forum with the aim of campaigning for the repeal of sodomy laws - a very common feature of ex-British colonies. Alex Au writes from Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago.

More than half of the world's remaining "sodomy" laws - criminalising consensual homosexual conduct - are relics of British colonial rule. In 1860, British colonisers introduced a new criminal code including Section 377 to occupied India and other colonies.

The first of the six men who were charged last week has been sentenced to four months imprisonment.