As a straight guy, I never saw how life is like for a gay person in Singapore. When I was single, it never occurred to me I won't be married one day. It's something I just took for granted. My problem was in finding the right woman and if that woman thinks I'm the right one for her too.
If you're gay, you have a big problem to contend with. The state does not recognise your marriage; it does not allow you to marry the one you love. In Singapore, they go further. Here, you can't even have sex with the guy you love. Yup, they say they won't enforce the law but do know that if you have sex with another guy, you're committing an offence. They can charge you in court; it's just that they give you chance. So be thankful. Fuck!!!!"
--- Singaporean Liberal on how repealing 377A is more important to gays than clean streets, [personal] safety, economic development and no corruption
A gay friend related to me that "*** once complained to me that so many gay men he met at the sauna were politically apathetic and didn't care about gay activism
but yes. gay activists seem to have rather different goals than gay people"
I already knew that the Unholy Obsession that many Singaporean Liberals (not all of whom are gay) have about 377A was not shared by many gay people, but I decided to sound out the ground more properly.
So I went onto Secret, which in Singapore is filled with gay men.
Me: Gays here: do you really care about 377A? ls it really a problem in your lives?
A: Nope, cant be bothered anymore. As long as my partner and I are happy, I couldn't give a shit about what the law has to say about what we do in private. (5 likes)
B: Yes it is.
As long as there's 377A, every gay man is a unconvicted felon. It needs to be repealed so that the LGBT minority in Singapore can fight for equality. (3 likes)
C: Hey we maybe criminals but we are the Smooth Criminal.
D: Can't be bothered. Why fight? Just concentrate on living your own life. (2 likes)
E: Do you want to be a criminal?
F: Will anyone be bothered by the fine u'll get when they litter? l'm sure almost everyone is guilty of littering before. My point is, matter what matters and don't be bothered by what doesn't.
So we have:
Apathetic to 377A: 4
Anti-377A: 2
Adding likes into the calculation, we get:
Apathetic to 377A: 9
Anti-377A: 4
Either way, it is clear from this sampling that gays in Singapore are apathetic about 377A.
On top of this, it is noteworthy that many people couldn't even be bothered to reply to this - in other words the vast majority of Singaporean gays (on Secret) are so apathetic about 377A that they don't even comment on a thread about it.
