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Kirsten Han 韩俐颖 Profile picture
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Aug 21 • 10 tweets • 5 min read
As expected before #ndr2022:

#Singapore will finally repeal Section 377A (which criminalises sex between men), while also undermining the main point of repealing Section 377A by enshrining the discrimination against #LGBTQ people elsewhere

channelnewsasia.com/singapore/ndr-…
Once the Constitution is amended it's going to be freakin' hard to change it again. And as Lee himself points out, this is not just about marriage. It affects housing, education, who gets to be recognised as next-of-kin, even advertising and film codes (media censorship).
Right now, Section 377A is not enforced. So the reason it should be repealed is not 'cos gay men are getting arrested for having sex, but 'cos 377A exists as a signal that #LGBTQ people are different and less acceptable and therefore can be discriminated against.
But what the PAP is saying now is that they are repealing the law so gay men won't be (technically) criminalised, but all the other discrimination that makes #LGBTQ people's lives so much harder will not only still persist, but be ENSHRINED IN THE HIGHEST LAW OF THE LAND
And apart from 377A/#LGBTQ rights, it's troubling that there's this framing of legal challenges being somehow undesirable and perhaps even dangerous. The judiciary is an indepedent arm of government in a democracy. People should have the right to bring challenges to the courts.
If #LGBTQ people feel like the legal definition of marriage is unfairly discriminating against them, they have the *right* to bring the challenge to the courts! And it would be the court's literal job to interpret the law and rule on the matter.
The wording of this proposed constitutional amendment is also going to be important. In 2017 MSF told me: "At the point of marriage, a couple must be man and woman, **and must want to be and want to remain as man and woman in the marriage**." (cont.) qz.com/988514/a-strai…
The bit about wanting to be and wanting to remain man+woman in the marriage is not actually in the law. The ministry just added that in themselves when interpreting the law, and this was used as a justification to void a marriage where one partner transitioned *after* marriage.

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More from @kixes

Kirsten Han 韩俐颖 Profile picture
Aug 4
🧵 I’ve been sharing updates but wanted to put together a thread covering the substantive points of the Court of Appeal hearing today (well, yesterday now) involving 24 death row prisoners in #Singapore

#DeathPenalty #StopTheKilling
On 1 August, 24 death row prisoners filed an originating claim against the state, in relation to their right to access to justice. They claimed that the practice of handing out punitive cost orders against lawyers have deterred lawyers from taking on late-stage capital cases.
Due to this fear, they say that they’ve faced difficulties finding lawyers to represent them. Therefore, this practice of imposing cost orders has affected their constitutional rights in relation to access to justice.
Read 44 tweets
Kirsten Han 韩俐颖 Profile picture
Aug 4
The judgement will be delivered at 7:30pm. #DeathPenalty #StopTheKilling
It’s 8:51pm and the judges haven’t returned yet. There was just an announcement that it will be about 20 minutes or so longer. 😣

Lots of anxious families right now, none more so than Abdul Rahim’s loved ones, who are waiting to find out if he will be granted a stay.
We’re still waiting here. It’s 9:33pm.
Read 10 tweets
Kirsten Han 韩俐颖 Profile picture
Aug 4
It’s been about an hour since the court stood down to deliberate the appeal brought by 24 death row prisoners against the High Court striking out their civil suit relating to their right to access to justice. The hearing is conducted on Zoom so the 24 are calling in from prison.
On multiple screens in the courtroom you can see the Zoom gallery. 24 of those little rectangles are the death row prisoners, representing themselves because they don’t have a lawyer to represent them in this application.
It took some time to bring them all into the Zoom room and make sure they were all connected, audio working, etc. So instead of putting them in the waiting room like it usually does, they’ve just been left in the room while the judges were put in the waiting room.
Read 4 tweets
Kirsten Han 韩俐颖 Profile picture
Jun 24
Okay, finally got access. If I understood what happened to me in interrogation correctly, after this morning there are now *more* offences that @justanotherock and I are on the hook for. Just going to sum it up as best I can…
The original 2 alleged offences that @justanotherock and I were questioned for this morning were: (1) when 4 of us hung out outside Changi Prison chatting the night of Kahar was executed, and (2) when we took photos outside of prison a couple of nights before Nagen was hanged. Image
However, ‘cos @justanotherock and I were wearing (different) T-shirts with anti-#deathpenalty slogans today, the police claim that we have committed another offence of “illegal procession”, ‘cos we walked from the market across the street to the police station this morning.
Read 13 tweets
Kirsten Han 韩俐颖 Profile picture
Apr 4
🧵 A thread to share the speech (with some edits to fit Twitter limits) that I gave in Hong Lim Park yesterday at the protest against the #deathpenalty in #Singapore, with further references in [ ].

⬇️⬇️⬇️
Thank you all for coming down today, despite the rain and the damp and the humidity.

By showing up, you’ve demonstrated your opposition to state violence in all our names.
By showing up, you’re also showing the many family members and loved ones of people on death row that there are people who stand with them.
Read 30 tweets
Kirsten Han 韩俐颖 Profile picture
Apr 3
This morning I worried that few people would show, especially because it rained earlier. When the government repeatedly says there’s overwhelming support for the #deathpenalty, it can make you feel very alone and on the fringe. Thank you to every single person who came today.
Members of Abdul Kahar's family attended the protest today. They, too, said that the turn-out was larger than they'd expected. Kahar's younger brother, Abdul Mutalib, told me, "It is over for my brother. Now we fight for everyone else."
When @Kokilaparvathi read out the names of people on death row (based on research done by @tjc_singapore), Mutalib expressed shock at how long the list was.

"There are 62 names," I told him.

His eyes widened. "62... [They're] not numbers. They're people."
Read 6 tweets

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