Four out of five Singaporeans agree that the city-state’s LGBTI residents still face discrimination, a Yahoo Singapore poll found.

Singapore’s penal code criminalizes gay sex with up to years in prison.

While rarely enforced, recent polls reveal the majority of the conservative state’s resident support retaining the law.

Activists are increasingly pushing to repeal the colonial-era law, especially after India dismantled similar legislation last year.

Singaporean families often do not accept LGBTI members. LGBTI residents face discrimination at work and in housing. The city has no anti-discrimination laws to protect them.

What did Singaporeans say?

In an online poll, Yahoo Singapore asked 887 Singaporeans in June:

‘Although there are changing local attitudes towards those in the LGBTQ community, some say that those in the LGBTQ community are still discriminated against in Singapore. Do you agree or disagree that anti-LGBTQ discrimination still takes place?’

Four out of five respondents strongly or somewhat agreed that such discrimination exists.

Yahoo also asked Singaporeans how they felt about Pink Dot Singapore, the city’s largest LGBTI event.

This year, Pink Dot chose to renew its call to repeal Section 377A. Days before, the country’s Prime Minister said the law would exist ‘for some time’.

Interestingly, 55 per cent of respondents also said that they strongly or somewhat support Pink Dot Singapore. But, the remaining 45 per cent opposed it.

A Pink Dot spokesperson told Yahoo the survey ‘what [Pink Dot] have always known’.

‘The fact that some Singaporeans continue to hold a negative perception of LGBTQ people can be attributed to our censorship laws that prohibit any neutral/positive portrayals of LGBTQ persons in our mainstream media.’

See also

Singaporean rapper says response to coming out ‘amazing’

University in Singapore explains why LGBT-themed TED talk was canceled

New HIV cases in Singapore drop to 14-year low