Homosexuality in Singapore

There are no statistics on how many gay people there are in Singapore or what percentage of the population they constitute. The main reason for this is that section 377A of the Penal Code (Singapore) criminalizes "gross indecency" between men which includes even consensual, private, adult homosexual acts. The penalty is up to two years' imprisonment.

The 2000 U.S. decennial census estimated (by extrapolation from hard data) that the proportion of gay men in America was 2.5 percent and of lesbians, 1.2 percent (source: Scientific American, March 2005 issue, 'Gay and Lesbian Census' by Rodger Doyle ) even though socio-psychological studies from the Kinsey era to the present day show that the same percentages of those claiming greater erotic attraction for the same sex were 7.7 for men and 7.5 for women.

The latest study done by the British civil service in December 2005 using actuarial tables and estimates supplied by the Department of Trade and Industry reported the figure for gay people in the UK as being 3.6 million or 6 percent of the population.

On 26 December 2005, China Daily reported that Zhang Beichuan, China's foremost expert on homosexuality estimated, according to statistics, that the number of gays in the Peoples' Republic was between 39 and 52 million, or 3 to 4 percent of the population.

Figures in Singapore may be broadly similar.
 * Read PLU's review of previous international studies:

Available statistics
In 2001, Fridae, Asia's largest English language-LGBT web portal, polled its gay and lesbian members residing in Singapore. Of the 595 respondents, 39% declared that they were "attached" or "living with a partner." 40% of the respondents who were in relationships had been with the same partner for more than 6 months.

A high proportion of respondents lived with their parents, while only 22% owned or rented their homes. This was despite the relatively high income levels of the respondents, with 50% earning more than S$80,000 (US$47,000) per annum – 20% reporting income levels of more than S$180,000 per annum, 11% between S$120,000 to S$180,000 and 19% between S$80,000 to S$120,000.

In general, online surveys tend to be less representative of the broader population than scientifically conducted random surveys, because of significant participation bias toward computer users and those disproportionately interested in the topic.

Starting from 2006, Sayoni, an organisation for Asian queer women, has been conducting a regular survey on queer women living in Singapore, which provides the most detailed statistics available on this population available to date. The full reports are available here. This survey is subject to the same bias-factors as mentioned earlier.

History
External links:
 * Singapore gay equality movement
 * Singapore gay venues: historical
 * IndigNation 2006, Singapore's second gay pride season

Singapore gay culture
External links:
 * Singapore gay businesses
 * Singapore gay charity work
 * Singapore gay personalities
 * Singapore gay venues: contemporary

External links and references

 * The Yawning Bread website:
 * Trevvy (formerly SGBOY):
 * Fridae.com:
 * Utopia's Singapore listings:
 * An archive of local and international LGBT-related video and newsclips shown on Singapore television on YouTube: and Google Video:, and video recordings of LGBT events held in Singapore:.
 * Profusely illustrated original versions and backups of deleted Wikipedia articles regarding Singaporean LGBT culture on SgWiki:
 * Blowing Wind Gay Forum:
 * Sayoni: - Singapore-based organisation for Asian queer women

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