The current topic that has generated much attention in Singapore revolves around Section 377A of the Penal Code, the law that criminalises sex between men.

How debate started in Singapore

The heated debate online was in reaction to 1) the Indian Supreme Court striking down Section 377 of its Penal Code on Sept. 6, 2018 and 2) the conclusion of a wide-ranging review of the Penal Code in Singapore that did not include a review of 377A.

Singapore society split on issue

In response to media queries, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam, said the government was "in the middle" with this issue.

He added that society was "deeply split" over this and that the majority of Singaporeans were opposed to any change to 377A, while a growing minority wants it repealed.

He said that "society has to decide which direction it wants to go", and subsequently, the law would change to "keep pace" with the changes in society.

Perhaps in a bid to show which way society wants to go, Singaporeans on both sides of the fence have taken to signing petitions to show support for their cause.

Multiple petitions started

Do a search for "377A" in Change.org and there are 17 results, nine of which were started in two days on Sept. 8 and 9, 2018.

Here are the top two petitions started in 2018 with more than 1,000 signatures:

As of Sept. 10, 2pm, the petition to repeal 377A had 8,761 signatures, while the petition to keep 377A had 81,620.

However, there are other petition platforms aside from Change.org where petitions on 377A have been started, such as Go Petition used by Pink Dot SG, which garnered 15,000 signatures to repeal 377A.

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Top photo by Jeanette Tan