SINGAPORE: Singapore's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is hopeful that a challenge to the country's anti-gay legislation will grant them new freedoms. “I am very hopeful that this will be the beginning of allowing gay people to have full rights in the city,” said lesbian activist Marina. “It is about time,” she told Bikyamasr.com. On Tuesday, Singapore's top court said it would hear a challenge to a law that currently criminalizes sex between two men. The Court of Appeal on Tuesday struck down a High Court decision that had barred the challenge. The case was put forward by a man who was detained after being police found him with a male partner at a public toilet in 2010. The new ruling is expected to trigger a fresh debate over a provision in the penal code known as Section 377A, which originated during British colonial rule and carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail. “I really am proud of the gay community in Singapore and their push for rights is something we all should have,” said Marina. Tan Eng Hong, 49, first brought the case to court two years ago after he was arrested after engaging in oral sex with another man at a shopping center. After his lawyer raised the constitutional issue, the charge was reduced by prosecutors to “committing an obscene act in public,” for which the two accused men were fined Sg$3,000 ($2,400) each. While there is still a ways to go in Singapore before LGBT rights are recognized, Marina believes in a better future for all Singaporeans. “We will have a country based on personal rights. I believe that. So this is just the beginning," she said.
