The First Step of a Very Long Journey.
Thoughts on the repealing of Penal Code 377A in Singapore.
After many years of activism, demonstration, education, and court appeals, the parliament of Singapore finally decided to consider the repeal of 377A earlier this year. Today, the members of parliament, after long debates, have voted on the repealing of 377A. 93 for AYE, 3 for NAY, 0 Abstain.
At first glance, this seems to call for celebrations, but before we cover the streets with rainbow flags, it is important to consider how this is only but a small tokenistic step in the right direction. I could go into analysing the parliamentary debates, the colonial history of 377A, the case study of the (deeply failing and flawed) democracy of Singapore, but emotionally and mentally, I do not think I have the space for such analyses and debates. I may be an academic in my day to day life, but the repeal of 377A and the possibilities and limitations it presents affects me as a person and I want to utilise this space to unpack my personal thoughts on the matter, divorcing my current thoughts from the abstractly theoretical.
Earlier in this blog, I wrote about 377A and how parliamentary debates and mainstream discourse in Singapore in favour of keeping the penal code has always cited ‘’family values’’ as a key reason. This discourse was not spared from the discussion of repealing 377A. While it seems like there might be cause for celebration with the repeal of 377A, the repeal was also met with commitments from many parliament members to ‘’strengthen the family unit’’. Sure, sex between gay men are no longer illegal but is sexual freedom the only human right they think we are after? If they do think so, they are ridiculously misguided. While the repeal of 377A could potentially battle some previous homophobic stigma of ‘’criminality’’, the notion of ‘’strengthening the family unit’’ implies the queer communities are excluded from ‘’family’’. Back to the discourse on ‘’family values’’, it implies we can’t form and sustain good, loving familial bonds. Even worse, queer people in this discourse are positioned as an opposition against families, as though loving bonds and belonging aren’t also deeply important to us. Surely there should be space to question and challenge the harmful heteronormative norms surrounding the notion of ‘’family’’.
While all the other issues surrounding queer rights are important to me (i.e., quality education, gender affirming care, access to housing, etc.), the issue and exclusion of queer people in Singapore from the notion of ‘’family’’ brings me much sadness for personal reasons. Despite being in a straight-presenting relationship, my partner and I are ultimately in a very queer relationship. In consideration of where to live out our lives together and raise our families, places we do consider to some extent ‘’home’’ have often been cards laid out on the table. Of these places, Singapore was amongst the deck. However, with how unfortunately cruel and institutionally homophobic is, it is very difficult to truly consider a life in Singapore where we will be happy. Furthermore, we are very clear on our desire for children in our lives and I cannot bear to subject my children to an education system that will try to box them in skirts and pants, pink and blue, and teach them harmful lessons about sex. I cannot bear to subject my children to a space where queer people are only accepted in writing but forced to hide away from the public for being ‘’too public’’. I cannot bear to have my children raised in a space that will continuously question the legitimacy of their parents’ relationship and their family-hood. So what does all these mean for the future of me and my family?
I could go on but I suppose I shall another time when I feel less tired from my many messy thoughts about the situation. Until then, PinkDot SG and Heckin Unicorn (I only hyperlinked part 1 of Heckin’ Unicorn’s analyses but parts 2-5 should be easily accessible through the first one) have put up really good analyses and statements about the situation that strongly reflect my views. So perhaps check them out.
