Singaporean trio’s challenge to gay sex law in court today

The long-running battle to strike Singapore’s gay sex law from the books continues in court today with its latest appeal.

DJ Johnson Ong; a retired doctor named Roy Tan; and Bryan Choong, the former chief of LGBT nonprofit Oogachaga will attend a virtual hearing in the appeals court today, 10 months after their bid to challenge the archaic law under Section 377A of the Penal Code was dismissed by the high court.

“The legal teams will be making an appeal against High Court’s refusal to declare 377A unconstitutional. Legal teams working hard for this appeal, we are behind you all the way!” the Ready4Repeal campaign, which has more than 70,000 followers, wrote Friday. 

The 10am proceeding, held virtually due COVID-19, was to be shown live via CCTV at the Court of Appeal building.

The legal teams fighting for the repeal include Remy Choo from Peter Low & Choo LLC, M Ravi from Carson Law Chambers, Harpreet Nehal Singh SC from Audent Chambers, and Eugene Thuraisingam, Suang Wijaya, Joel Wong, and Johannes Hadi from Eugene Thuraisingam LLP. They were captured this morning suited up and ready.

It was previously dismissed by the high court when Justice See Kee Oon rejected arguments that the law was unconstitutional, saying it “serves the purpose of safeguarding public morality by showing societal moral disapproval of male homosexual acts.”

The law has existed since British colonial rule in 1938 and places any men who commit an “act of gross indecency” together in prison for up to two years, though prosecutions are rare.

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