Singapore Removes Gay Job Ban
365Gay.com,
July 5, 2003
By 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
The government of Singapore has quietly removed a law
prohibiting the hiring of gays within the civil service.
Gay people are now allowed to work in "certain
positions in government", Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said in an
interview with Time magazine, excerpts of which were released by his office.
"In the past, if we know you're gay, we would not
employ you but we just changed this quietly," he told the magazine.
But, gays and lesbians will have to declare their sexual
orientation in job application forms. Goh claimed it was " for the
applicants' own protection."
"If you are working in a sensitive position and
you're trying to hide your sexual preferences and instinct... if you're
discovered by somebody else, then he can blackmail you," he said.
Goh also said that the government had no intention of
repealing laws making gay sex illegal. "The heartlanders are still
conservative," he said. " You can call it double-standard."
"And for the Muslims, it's religion, it's not the
law. Islam openly says the religion is against gay practice."
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