377A Has Been Repealed, But We Should Not Call It Progress

Progress is not something that we should expect either.

Liberals and conservatives around the world have always been at an impasse. The people who are willing to take the most extreme actions for their beliefs, be it liberal or conservative, are generally not only convinced that they are correct, but also that every one else is wrong. At both ends of the spectrum are people who are inflexible and unlikely to make any concessions for the other.

“But we made progress, 377A has been repealed!”

The key lies in the way that 377A was repealed. The government didn’t simply remove 377A from our penal code. Instead, PM Lee also made clear that they will be amending the constitution to protect marriage from legal challenges.

To the staunch conservatives, this is a step backward. 377A was a symbol of conservatism. The repeal of 377A is the start of further erosion of conservative values in the society. I believe that their slippery slope argument is not something I have to spell out.

To the liberals, this is a one-step-forward-ten-steps-back scenario. Sure, 377A is repealed, but the government just promised to make it harder for further changes to happen, in keeping promise to protect pro-family values. This includes protecting the marriage constitution, and housing policies. MCI even asserted that LGBT content will continue to warrant higher ratings.

The way the government repealed 377A also weakens any future arguments both parties might have against one another.

If the liberals try to fight for more rights after this, it will further affirm the conservatives’ argument that liberals will never be satisfied and will always ask for more. They will hence take the LGBT community even less seriously (not that they already give them any respect to begin with).

If the conservatives try to reinstate 377A, the liberals would be able to argue that life has gone on as per usual for the conservatives, even now that 377A isn’t there. Not having 377A wouldn’t change the fact that the extreme conservatives still feel entitled enough to complain about anything remotely liberal, such as rainbow IKEA bags.

The only true winner from this is the government.

If the liberals reassert that Singapore is an overly conservative society subtly ruled by various religious groups, the government would be able to say that they are getting there, and that they’ve already repealed 377A.

For the conservatives, if they argued that the society is undermined by the “leftist agenda”, the government would be able to rebut by talking about how they’ve strengthened the constitution of marriage and have put all the “safeguards” in place.

Those on the far ends of both spectrum will continue to believe that Singapore is overly conservative or becoming too liberal, their strong convictions are untenable for the government either way. (Digressing a little, that’s the thing about the extreme ends, what they both think is right, i.e. Singapore being overly conservative/too liberal, logically cannot be right at the same time).

However, those closer to the middle ground will feel heard or seen for the first time — the moderate-liberals would feel assured that Singapore is progressing, while the moderate-conservatives will recognize the government’s effort in trying to protect pro-family values.

I would say that this is an extremely smart maneuver by the government. They took a step forward, just not in the direction of the conservatives nor the liberals. Yet, this is a step that they can sell to the general public as “progress”.