Pelosi calls on Singapore businesses to support LGBTQ groups

THE US Congressional delegation led by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asked Singapore’s business groups to support the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community in the city-state, which is currently debating whether to strike down its colonial-era sodomy laws. 

The call to leaders of the business community comes as more American businesses are setting up and adding offices in the country, according to a statement issued on Monday (Aug 1) by Pelosi’s press office. There are nearly 5,500 US companies there already.

The US is also Singapore’s biggest foreign direct investor, with US$315 billion of investments, more than its investments in China, India and South Korea combined, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said last year in a speech. 

In recent weeks, calls to end Singapore’s prohibition on sex between men have gathered steam. Whatever happens, law and home affairs minister K Shanmugam has signalled that any easing wouldn’t include recognition of same-sex marriages.

Gay marriage has been legal across the US since 2015, with many states recognising same-sex unions before that. In the wake of recent Supreme Court rulings that could threaten that precedent, Senate Democrats have begun a campaign to codify same-sex marriage through legislative action and to extend protections to all married couples.

In a statement on Thursday, Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs said: “The government would like to remind foreign businesses that while they are free to promote diversity in their companies, they should be careful about advocacy on issues in Singapore that could be socially divisive, including LGBT issues.

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“These are matters for Singaporeans to discuss and come to a consensus on how to move forward.”