Fridae

Lawmakers in Uruguay on Wednesday voted 71-21 to legalise same-sex marriage, making the South American country the 12th in the world and third in the Americas to do so.

Following the Singapore High Court's decision to dismiss a challenge to the country's anti-gay sex laws, Tania De Rozario recaps a long list of injustice and discrimination suffered by gay people, and argues why equality is needed right away.

In dismissing one of two legal challenges in which plaintiffs sought to have the country's anti-gay sex law declared unconstitutional, the judge concludes that while anal and oral sex in private between a consenting man and woman is considered "acceptable," the same conduct was "repugnant and offensive" when carried out between two men, "therefore no reason to strike down... s 377A... as arbitrary or discriminatory."

Pioneer gay activist and blogger Alex Au examines the arguments made in the second case and adds that Justice Quentin Loh is close to issuing his decision on the first challenge filed by Gary Lim and Kenneth Chee, and his decision may be released within this month (March 2013).

Singapore's anti-gay sex law, section 377A, was challenged today in the nation's High Court by human rights lawyer M. Ravi.

Tan Eng Hong's civil appeal challenging the Constitutionality of statute 377A of Singapore's Penal Code will be heard in the High Court on Wednesday, Mar 6.

Arguing that section 377A is constitutional, the Attorney-General argues that the law applies to all men, not just self-identified gay men, who have sex with other men; the law “reflects public morality”; and "because there is a scientifically-established difference between the public health risks associated with sex between men and sex between women."

French MPs on Saturday approved the main clause in a bill to legalise same-sex marriage, despite huge protests earlier in the month that saw hundreds of thousands of people in Paris oppose the measure.

Members of the LGBT community in Singapore today expressed their disappointment and outrage over the prime minister's reasoning as to why section 377A of the Penal Code which criminalises gay sex should remain.

Legislative Council (LegCo) member Cyd Ho Sau-lan is planning to move a motion on Wednesday, Nov 7, to urge the Government to conduct a public consultation on legislation to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.