It is time we redefine "Gross Indecencies"

The feeling of not knowing who you like because from childhood you have been told that you are supposed to like the opposite sex. Marriage is when a boy and a girl like each other and want to spend the rest of their lives together is what children are told. Why don't people say it's when two people of any gender like each other and want to spend their lives together? This is the problem the LGBTQA+ community face on a daily basis. In such a developed country as Singapore with such a vast variety of people from different cultures, religions, and races live, the LGBTQA+ community is still neglected and is a “taboo” to be gay.

An article in the strait times mentioned that even today that 55 per cent of Singapore residents still support gay law. The concept of love and marriage is rejoiced but only when it comes to 2 different sexes. 377A, “Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years”. This is a part of the Singapore Penal Code. It uses the word “gross indecencies” to describe what would be “romance” when done between people of 2 different sexes. The same article also talks about a survey conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs in which a poll was conducted over a period of four days, from the end of July 2018 to early August, to understand today's social attitudes towards same-sex relationships in Singapore. Putting it into laments terms, 2 of 3 Singaporeans still are for the law and are against the idea of same-sex relationships, marriage is taking it too far. The article also mentions a study conducted in 2014 by the Institute of Policy Studies, which found that 78.2 per cent of respondents said: “same-sex relationships were wrong”. Singapore is a country that is developing exponentially with its economy but its ideologies are older than since it gained its independence. The article ended with the statement, "Nonetheless, as (Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong) has previously noted, a social consensus remains far from being reached." The consensus needs to be asked for it to reach somewhere. Politicians are abiding by “laws” made a long time ago. With the world changing at such scalable measures, the LGBTQA+ community is at a standstill in Singapore.

Channel News Asia, in an article, wrote what Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also said at the Smart Nation Summit that Section 377A will be around "for some time". The law was established in 1939. It has been 80 years since the law was passed, how much more time will it be around is the question that should be asked. The LGBTQ community is not even given reasons for this law to still exist.

The LGBTQA+ community seeks refuge within themselves because they are not accepted as a part of “society”. Today online published an article to highlight the feeling of isolation, stress, and depression, and how more LGBTQ individuals seek mental health support. Dr Adrian Wang, a consultant psychiatrist at Gleneagles Medical Centre, said the patients he sees from the LGBTQ group generally have similar mental health issues, such as anxiety attacks, depression, and work stress, as the straight population. However, discrimination and the lack of acceptance and support networks can compound mental health issues.

The article also mentions that research has shown that LGBTQ people face a higher risk of having mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, substance abuse, suicide and self-harm than heterosexuals. It also sheds light on a study conducted in 2012 by Oogachaga which found that three in five LGBTQ respondents surveyed reported some form of discrimination as a result of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, thus in addition to being, offensive, narrow-minded and prejudiced against them, it also affects their mental stability.

LGBT movement Pink Dot SG is a ray of hope for the community to move forward in their endeavours and break the boundaries set by the law for them. This is one way they are standing up for their rights. Today online conveyed a message of the spokesperson of Pink Dot, Paerin Choa, that the government should protect the rights of the LGBTQA+ community in the same way that it does for racial and religious minorities. He also said, “We cannot afford to wait until there is approval from the majority before the LGBT community is treated as equal citizens in the eyes of the law.”

When can we expect change? Wasnt 80 years enough? How much more do we have to wait for members of the LGBTQA+ society to be accepted with open arms into the society the rest of us live in? As a society, we should be able to make change happen even in the smallest ways. The concept of more than 2 sexes can be introduced in schools to adolesents in search of their sexuality. Campaigns should be conducted more than just once a year so that closeted LGBTQA+ people can be themselves in front of a vast array of people and would not have the need to closet themselves and suffer mental instability. The pink dot movement is a start but from what is being seen, it's going to take a long time and there is still a long way to go.