Singapore will not repeal the anti-sodomy laws that criminalizes gay sex, affirmed Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam, Singapore’s law minister, to an influential Christian group.

According to the reports from LoveSingapore’s Facebook page, a group network of 100 churches, the minister attended a meeting with its leaders to discuss LGBT rights today (18 February).

The meeting came at the request of Lawrence Khong, leader of LoveSingapore, following Shanmugam’s meeting with lesbian group Sayoni.

Khong, who previously stated that repealing the law is a ‘looming threat’, said the meeting was about ‘defending the moral future of our nation’.

He said the pastors enjoyed the conversation with Shanmugam on a ‘hot and emotional topic’, and that they looked at the LGBT issue through ‘different lenses and from many angles’.

‘(Shanmugam) explained multiple viewpoints on the topic, his engagement with many different groups, and how their viewpoints differed’.

In response to the queries by the group, the minister stated the government’s position is as prime minster, Lee Hsien Loong, previously stated: that Singapore is a conservative society, and while the government would not repeal the law, it would not enforce it.

LoveSingapore made the headlines recently when Mr Khong and another pastor associated with the network, Mr Yang Tuck Yoong of Cornerstone Community Church, rallied against repealing the law.

The pastors stopped their public campaign following a warning from Singapore’s attorney-general’s chambers that public statements on the topic run the risk of being sub judice, as the matter is before the courts.

Section 377A, a British colonial-era law, criminalizes sex between mutually consenting adult men, and offenders can be jailed for up to two years

There are currently two challenges to Section 377A in Singapore’s Supreme Court.