男性間性交渉禁じる法律支持に反発、活動家らが上訴　シンガポール

【シンガポールＡＦＰ＝時事】シンガポールの裁判所が、男性間の性交渉を禁止する英植民地時代の法律を支持する判断を下したことを受けて、活動家3人が25日、これを不服として上訴した。（写真は資料写真）
　同法をめぐっては、適用こそまれとはいえ、ますます現代的になりつつある同国の文化に影を落とし続けているとの指摘が上がっている。一方で、シンガポールの本質は依然保守的だとする声もあり、政府関係者らも、同法廃止への賛同はほぼ得られないとみている。
　昨年には高等裁判所が、同法撤廃の訴えを３度にわたって棄却していた。これを受けて活動家３人がこのほど上訴した。
　活動家の一人で、元医師のロイ・タン氏は今回の上訴の理由について、法の下の平等や表現の自由といった憲法の複数の規定に同法が違反しているとの訴えが昨年の審理で棄却されたのは間違っているためだと説明した。
　シンガポールでは、英植民地時代の１９３８年に導入された同法に基づき、同性愛行為に２年以下の禁錮刑が科され得る。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/01/26-08:01）

Three Singapore campaigners launched an appeal Monday against a court's decision to uphold a law banning sex between men, the latest effort to overturn the colonial-era legislation.
A holdover from British rule of the city-state, the law is rarely enforced but activists say it still jars with the affluent country's increasingly modern and vibrant culture.
Others, however, argue that Singapore remains conservative at heart, and is not ready for change, while officials also believe most would not be in favour of repealing the legislation.
Last year, the High Court dismissed three challenges to the law, which it heard together, by a retired doctor, a DJ and an LGBT rights advocate.
The trio challenged that decision Monday at the Court of Appeal.
M. Ravi, a lawyer representing retired doctor Roy Tan, said in a Facebook post he had argued the gay sex ban should be deemed absurd.
Tan said the appeal was based on the grounds that the judge hearing last year's case was wrong to reject arguments the legislation breached several articles of the constitution.
These include the right to equality before the law, the right to life and personal liberty and the right to freedom of expression, he said in a statement.
Challenges to the law have been rejected twice, first in 2014 and again last year.
The failure to overturn it contrasts sharply with progress made elsewhere in the region on LGBT rights.
In 2018, India's Supreme Court decriminalised gay sex by overturning legislation from its own time under British rule.
In Taiwan, lawmakers took the unprecedented step in 2019 of legalising same-sex marriage, making the island the first place in Asia to do so.
Singapore's ban, introduced in 1938, carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail for homosexual acts.