The rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender LGBT people in Singapore have evolved over the decades. Same-sex sexual activity is legal for both males and females; for men it was officially legalised in after being de facto decriminalised since , and for women it was always legal. Prior to , same-sex sexual activity between males was de jure illegal under the British colonial-era Section A of the Penal Code. The law had been de facto unenforced for decades.
In February , the Court of Appeal in the Supreme Court reaffirmed that A cannot be used to prosecute men for having sex with other men, [3] [4] [5] and that it is "unenforceable in its entirety". Shanmugam added that the Constitution would be amended to protect Parliament's right to define marriage instead of the judiciary, which is the Supreme Court of Singapore , leaving open the possibility for Parliament to legalise same-sex marriages or civil unions through a simple majority.
Same-sex marriages are currently not recognised in the country, including the adoption of children by same-sex couples, although a gay Singaporean man with a male partner in won a landmark appeal to adopt a child that he had fathered through a surrogate. We are not any lesser by reason of our sexual orientation. While Singaporean society is generally regarded as conservative, LGBT pride festivals such as Pink Dot have taken place every year since with increasing attendance amounting to the tens of thousands.
In line with worldwide trends, [14] attitudes towards members of the LGBT community among Singaporeans are slowly changing and becoming more socially accepting and tolerant. As such, heterosexual and homosexual anal or oral sex was illegal. In , such sexual activity was legalised except for sex between men. This statement was made amid public debate over the law and in response to opinions of former attorneys-general that the public prosecutor had, in effect, been limited from pursuit of such cases.
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Wong said that while "the public prosecutor did not pursue cases between consenting adults and in private places as it was not in the public interest" an attorney-general could direct that such a prosecution be mounted, "if reports are lodged with police, particularly in relation to minors". The statement was made prior to the ruling by the Singapore Court of Appeals that the section was unenforceable as a proscription of same-sex sexual activity.
