A challenge on gay sex ban - Singapore to emulate India?

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - A veteran Singapore diplomat on Thursday called for Singapore’s gay community to challenge a law that bans gay sex in the conservative city-state, following India’s scrapping of the same British colonial-era legislation.

Tommy Koh, a prominent diplomat and lawyer, made the comments in response to a Facebook post by a senior Singapore-based academic on India’s landmark ruling on Thursday. “I would encourage our gay community to bring a class action to challenge the constitutionality of Section 377A,” Koh wrote.

Previous legal challenges in 2014 on the constitutionality of the law failed. Reminded of this by another Facebook user, Koh said from his verified account: “try again”.

Under Singapore’s law 377A, a man found to have committed an act of “gross indecency” with another man could be jailed for up to two years, although prosecutions are rare. The law does not apply to homosexual acts between women.