The Singapore High Court has set out a deadline for local disc jockey Mr Johnson Ong to file evidence for his constitutional challenge against 377A – the law that criminalises sex between consenting adult men.
However, trial dates have not been fixed, said a report by Todayonline.
Mr Ong will have to file all his evidence – including medical expert evidence – by November 20, his lawyers said after the first pre-trial conference on Tuesday, September 25. There will be a subsequent pre-trial conference on December 3.
The case could be heard around the end of the first quarter of next year.
Mr Ong, whose stage name is DJ Big Kid, told local media Todayonline that the support he has received has been “nothing short of overwhelming”, and that he has “nothing but gratitude”.
He also added that the case has made him realise that “this issue is bigger than any one person or any one campaign”.
“It is a Singaporean issue and is heartening to know that many Singaporeans (have ‘woken’ up) to the larger issue of equality and justice and fairness.”
Mr Ong, who is 43 years old, had mounted the latest challenge on September 10, 2018. This was some four years after the previous challenge was struck down by the High Court in Singapore.
He is being represented by Mr Eugene Thuraisingam and Mr Suang Wijaya, who will highlight the concept of human dignity in arguing the case. This was not brought up in a previous challenge filed four years ago.
The two lawyers will argue that Section 377A "violates human dignity", and that sexual orientation "is unchangeable or suppressible at unacceptable personal cost".
The renewed interest in the 377A law in Singapore came about when India scrapped the country's Section 377 of the Penal Code in a landmark ruling on September 5 this year.
