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Showing posts with label gay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gay. Show all posts
Chan Chun Sing accused Goldman Sach of sowing discord amongst Singaporeans with recruitment dinner for LGBT students
Question: Isn't the PAP government's immigration policy not sowing discord amongst Singaporeans?
Gay Star News, 3 May 2014
A Singapore minister has admonished a multinational company in Singapore for its recruitment practice saying that foreign companies 'should not venture into public advocacy for causes that sow discord amongst Singaporeans.'
The article he was referring to is believed to a report by MyPaper on Wednesday which said that US-based investment bank Goldman Sachs will be hosting a recruitment and networking dinner for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students later this month at its office in Singapore. Full story
Related:
Outing The Bigots - Singapore Notes
A Singapore minister has admonished a multinational company in Singapore for its recruitment practice saying that foreign companies 'should not venture into public advocacy for causes that sow discord amongst Singaporeans.'
The article he was referring to is believed to a report by MyPaper on Wednesday which said that US-based investment bank Goldman Sachs will be hosting a recruitment and networking dinner for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) students later this month at its office in Singapore. Full story
Related:
Outing The Bigots - Singapore Notes
Singapore attorney general allegedly pressured Lawrence Bernard Wee into withdrawing workplace discrimination plea - report
SINGAPORE — A former executive of a multinational department store has withdrawn his appeal of workplace discrimination after the attorney general called his plea frivolous and vexatious, reports GayAsiaNews.com.
Lawrence Bernard Wee, 40, who was suing former employer Robinsons, has ended his quest to have the courts declare workplace discrimination against gay men unconstitutional by withdrawing his case April 21, the attorney general’s Chambers said in a media statement.
Last August, Wee had sought a court declaration that Article 12 of Singapore’s Constitution provided for equal protection of the law and prohibited workplace discrimination of gay men, according to todayonline.com.
Following that the attorney general’s Chambers applied to have this struck out on the basis that it was not sustainable in law, was frivolous and vexatious or was otherwise an abuse of the court process. Wee will have to pay costs to the attorney general for withdrawing the appeal. Full story
Christian group's anti-gay guide tells supporters to hide their religious affiliations from the public
Yahoo! News Singapore, 19 Feb 2014
LoveSingapore is a religious organisation, determined to influence Singapore – a secular Singapore – with their ideology.
In a society as diverse as Singapore, how can -- and should -- such an organisation ever claim to represent a majority, silent or otherwise?
This could perhaps explain why LoveSingapore’s leaked guide also tells its readers to obscure their religious affiliations. It asks that church leaders do not use their church or religious rankings, and to use their personal email addresses rather than church ones. It wants its supporters not to be identified as coming from religious motivations, but to give people the impression that they are all simply concerned Singaporeans. Full story
Related:
Leave God Out Of This - Singapore Notes
Leaked: Singapore church group's secret guide to lobby government against decriminlaizing gay sex
A secret guide telling Singapore Christians how best to lobby their government against scrapping the country’s colonial era sodomy law has been leaked online - exposing their talking points about how to write to lawmakers.
A secret guidebook created by a group of Singapore churches telling people how best to lobby lawmakers against repealing the country’s colonial era 377A law banning sex between men has been leaked online.
‘This Guide is not meant for mass distribution to everybody in your church or everybody you know on Planet Earth,’ the guidebook states. Full story
Singapore’s Health Promotion Board declares being gay is normal
Singapore’s Health Promotion Board has said that gay people are normal and not suffering from mental illness in a new online resource aimed at better educating Singaporeans around LGBTI issues.
The resource came to the media’s attention after someone started an online petition to have it removed from the Health Promotion Board’s website – though less than 1,500 people have signed that petition.
A counter petition to keep the resource on the board’s website was started yesterday and has attracted more than 750 signatures in its first 24 hours. Full story
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Despite anti-gay laws in Singapore, the country remains open to LGBT tourists
Dot429.com
Legally, Singapore is not friendly to the LGBT community; in practice, however, it’s a different story.
In an interview with the BBC, the Chief Executive of the Singapore Tourism Board, Lionel Yeo, was asked by Fast Track host Rajan Datar if they welcome gay visitors to Singapore; he responded without hesitation, “We do. We do not discriminate against any type of visitors.”
In response to a question about the seeming contradiction between welcoming LGBT people and the anti-gay “gross indecency” law, Yeo said, “The government’s position on that has been…that they would like to leave it on the books for the time being, and at the same time it’s not being actively enforced.” Full story
OPINION: Transgender lover’s knife attack exposes Singapore’s ‘mean spirit’ - Sudeshna Sarkar
A lovers’ tiff that developed into a vicious assault is being regarded from a different perspective in Singapore – because the attacker happens to be from the transgender community.
The incident occurred in February 2012 when William Hanz De Veyra Arriesgado, a 25-year-old Filipino living with a 47-year-old Australian, Colin James Peady, had an argument in a pub. Full story
Singapore’s LGBT community decries national survey about ‘gay lifestyles’
Singapore’s LGBT community has decried a recent government-commissioned survey that suggests a plurality of Singaporeans are not accepting of “gay lifestyles,” and that a clear majority rejects same-sex marriage.
The survey, conducted by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS), indicated that 47 percent rejected the statement idea that society “accepts gay lifestyles,” while 26 percent said they were accepting, and 27 percent said they had no opinion for or against.
But the survey results were quickly dismissed by Singapore’s LGBT community, and activists claimed the survey and its language is misleading and biased, and mocked it on Twitter with the hashtag #gaylifestyle.
Pink Dot Singapore, an LGBT advocacy group, said the use of the term “gay lifestyle” was prejudiced and wrong. Full story
Singapore sodomy law challenge gets new star legal team
Gay Star News, 9 Jul 2013A Singapore gay couple who are campaigning to end Singapore’s ban on gay sex have announced a new star legal team for the next step in their legal challenge.
Senior Counsel Deborah Barker has been appointed to represent Gary Lim and Kenneth Chee in their appeal of a Singapore High Court judgement in which Justice Quentin Loh dismissed their constitutional challenge to a colonial era law that criminalizes physical relationships between two men.
Lim and Chee have been in a relationship for 15 years and are pushing for the Section 377A law to be struck down, though the Singapore Government has said the law will no longer be enforced. Full story
OPINION: Modern Singapore grapples with archaic sex law - Annabelle Liang
A provision in the penal code known as Section 377A makes it a crime for men to have sex with each other. Even though it is not enforced actively by Singapore authorities, campaigners are demanding its repeal.
Gary Lim, 44, and his 37-year-old partner Kenneth Chee, both graphic designers, say they decided to challenge the law's constitutionality because they did not want to continue living in fear of being prosecuted someday.
The High Court recently ruled against them but the couple decided to elevate it to the Court of Appeal for a final ruling. No hearing date has been set as their lawyers are still in the process of filing the appeal papers. Full story
UN Human Rights Council may act against countries like Singapore for LGBT discrimination
Seventy-six countries continue to criminalise same-sex relations. The Singapore High Court recently upheld an anti-homosexuality law, while the president of Senegal has declared homosexuality to be incompatible with the country's cultural values.
Against this continuing violence and discrimination, states will gather here in Geneva next month for the 23rd session of the UN’s Human Rights Council, the world’s most important human rights body. High on the Council’s agenda is how to respond to violence and discrimination against LGBT people.
The Council’s 2011 resolution expresses “grave concern” about violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, a statement that should be entirely uncontroversial. However, 19 of the 47 members of the Council — almost all African or members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation — voted against the text. Full story
OPINION: Is Singapore's stance on homosexuality changing? - Mariko Oi
Section 377 of the Penal Code may not mean much to people in the UK today, but the law which criminalises homosexual acts is a British legacy still found in many former colonies in the Far East. However, it is now being challenged in Singapore.
Under the law, a man caught committing an act of "gross indecency" with another man could be jailed for up to two years.
It was introduced by British colonial authorities as part of broader legislation which also banned sexual acts such as anal and oral sex.
Similar prohibitions also remain in section 377 of the Penal Codes of Malaysia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Full story
Related:
S’pore gay couple to appeal recent Court decision on Section 377A
Yahoo! News Singapore, 18 Apr 2013The couple whose bid to overturn anti-gay sex law Section 377A was rejected by the Singapore High Court last week have filed an appeal.
“We believe that gay men should not have to go to jail for being who they are, and this is why we are appealing the decision,” said partners Gary Lim and Kenneth Chee, who have been together for 15 years.
“Singapore is one of the few Asian countries that criminalizes LGBT people and the existence of S 377A has a dampening effect on society. For example, LGBT businesses and societies face unfair and often insurmountable bureaucratic hurdles in getting registered,” the couple added. Full story
Section 377A Strikedown Case Fails in High Court
Singapore’s High Court has dismissed a case by gay partners Gary Lim and Kenneth Chee designed to scrap a law which bans gay male sex. At present, Section 377A of the Singapore Penal Code, introduced when the island nation was under British rule, makes it a crime for men to engage in ‘gross indecency’ with each other, punishing them with up to two years jail. However, the law is rarely enforced, so de facto decriminalisation already exists. Singaporean LGBT rights advocates have already said they will appeal the case to the Court of Appeal. Link
Related:
- Ruling deals blow to Singapore gay rights - news24.com
- Singapore High Court rejects repeal of gay sex ban for men - PinkNews.co.uk
- Court ruling deals blow to gay rights in Singapore - Malaysia Star
- Singapore's High Court Won't Review Ban on Gay Sex - Gayapolis News
High Court reserves judgment on second 377A case
A judge in Singapore’s High Court on Wednesday reserved judgment on a second case brought before the court questioning the constitutionality of a controversial law criminalising gay sex.
The application, filed by 49-year-old Tan Eng Hong through his lawyer M Ravi, challenged the validity of Section 377A of the Penal Code, which provides that consensual intimacy between men is against the law.
Tan was initially charged under the section in question when he was arrested in 2010 for engaging in fellatio with another man in a toilet cubicle in a mall. After Ravi questioned its constitutionality, prosecutors amended their charges to that of committing an obscene act in public, for which Tan and his partner were fined $3,000 each. Full story
Singapore's Law Minister Assures Influential Christian Group: We Won't Repeal Anti-Gay Sex Law
Gay Star News, 18 Feb 2013Singapore will not repeal the anti-sodomy laws that criminalizes gay sex, affirmed Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam, Singapore’s law minister, to an influential Christian group.
According to the reports from LoveSingapore’s Facebook page, a group network of 100 churches, the minister attended a meeting with its leaders to discuss LGBT rights today (18 February).
The meeting came at the request of Lawrence Khong, leader of LoveSingapore, following Shanmugam's meeting with lesbian group Sayoni. Full story
Related:
Law minister meets leaders of LoveSingapore to discuss gay issues - XIN MSN News
Singapore gay sex law ‘absurd’: couple’s lawyers in repeal case
The case to repeal section 377A of the Penal Code on the basis of a constitutional breach was filed by graphic designers Gary Lim, 44, and Kenneth Chee, 38, who are in a 15-year relationship. The section criminalises acts of “gross indecency” between two consenting men, with a jail term of up to two years.
In a closed-door hearing, the couple’s lawyers – Peter Low, Choo Zheng Xi and Indulekshmi Rajeswari – argued before Justice Quentin Loh that the law was “absurd, arbitrary and unreasonable” as it violated Article 12 of the Singapore constitution which states that all persons are entitled to equal protection by law. Full story
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