Section 377A repeal: Parents asked to list top concerns in Focus on the Family survey
UPDATE: Focus on the Family Singapore has responded to Yahoo News Singapore's queries regarding its survey
SINGAPORE — A conservative Christian organisation is asking parents in a survey to list their top concerns over the repeal of Section 377A (S377A) of the Penal Code, the law that criminalises gay sex.
The Focus on the Family Singapore (FOTF) survey asks parents to list their top three concerns out of eight options regarding the potential implications of the repeal in one of the survey questions. Among the optional answers are: “Increased confusion faced by children in their sexual identity”, “Loss of gendered spaces (eg. toilets/changing rooms)”, “Sex education in schools will normalise non-biological gender identity and non-heterosexual orientation”, and “More difficulty raising my children with conservative values”.
The aim of the survey is to “help us greatly in focusing our content moving forward”, said FOTF.
On Monday (22 August), FOTF posted its response to the announcement by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech that S377A will be repealed. In tandem with the repeal, a constitutional amendment will be enacted to prevent legal challenges against the definition of marriage of being between a man and a woman, Lee added.
Prior to the announcement of the repeal, the government had said that S377A is not enforced as part of a “messy compromise” between those for and against the law.
In its post on Facebook, FOTF said it is “deeply concerned about the negative impact on families and family values” arising from the repeal of S377A. FOTF urged the government to protect children by “establishing new laws and policies to prohibit the promotion of LGBTQ+ ideology”.
It also called for marriage to be protected by enshrining it in the Constitution, “and not only by a constitutional amendment pointing to the Women's Charter and Interpretation Act's definition of marriage, which can be changed in parliament by a simple majority, even if not challenged in court”.
Shanmugam's comments on Section 377A
On Monday, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam clarified about the proposed constitutional amendment, saying it is to ensure the right of Parliament to define marriage. "I want to be clear because I think there's some confusion. The definition of marriage is not going to be in the Constitution. That's not the intention,” he said in an interview with The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao.
On 11 March, Shanmugam spoke at an event organised by FOTF where he addressed various issues including S377A. He said then that his parliamentary statement on 3 March about the law was carefully considered and delivered on behalf of the government. He added that all individual ministers are bound by the Cabinet's decisions on government policy and they should refrain from expressing their own personal views on the matter.
In March, the government’s feedback unit REACH launched a survey to gather public feedback on S377A. Shortly after it was launched, REACH said the survey was closed due to "overwhelming response".
Response from FOTF
In response to queries from Yahoo News Singapore, FOTF said that since the announcement of the repeal, it has received many messages from parents expressing concerns.
The survey will close once FOTF is able to gauge the concerns on the ground comprehensively.
Initially, the survey’s purpose was for “development of content and resourcing”, FOTF said.
“Given the overwhelming response of the survey, it may inform community organisations and/government bodies on the sentiments and feedback on the ground, as it implements and rolls out safeguards for families in light of the repeal of Section 377A.”
FOTF said it has also received a number of “bogus or troll comments” for the survey and urged the public to respect the needs of parents to express their concerns.
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