Singapore joining the 20th Century, but not the 21st

[BootmanLA]

As some of you may know, since its colonial era Singapore has considered same-sex sexual acts criminal, punishable by up to two years in prison. Earlier this year, the Singapore Court of Appeal ruled that prosecutions under this section could not continue, and this week the Prime Minister of Singapore announced that his party would press legislation to repeal that law.

On the downside, he also reiterated his country's opposition to same-sex marriage, noting that his party plans to push to put a ban on such into the Singapore constitution. So, one step forward, one step backward.

In truth, Singapore is not that out of step with most of southeast Asia. Taiwan is (I believe) the only country in the region that recognizes same-sex marriages, while Thailand is at least granting more recognition to same-sex couples (adoption rights, joint asset holding, etc.) while not actually recognizing same-sex unions yet.