We would like to call on our readers to sign this petition, addressed to the Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, to support his message of decriminalising homosexuality.

Leaders of 54 Commonwealth nations, including PM Lee, will be meeting in Perth from Oct 28-30 for the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Reports say that human rights will be an important focus of the summit, with news surfacing that there will be a push for these ex-British colonies to repeal their homophobic laws. The issue on people's minds will be the continuing relevance or irrelevance of the Commonwealth as an institution.

Link to petition:

http://www.allout.org/en/actions/wearenotillegal

Latest news:

http://www.pinknews.co.uk/2011/10/26/commonwealth-secretary-general-backs-gay-rights/

Speaking in Perth, Australia, ahead of the Commonwealth Heads Of Government Meeting, Mr Sharma said Commonwealth countries should “embrace difference” and commit to “tolerance, respect and understanding”.

He said: “We recall the 2009 Affirmation of Commonwealth Values and Principles, which includes a clear commitment to tolerance, respect and understanding. This means we embrace difference, and that includes sexual identity.

This article is written by Indulekshmi Rajeswari, one of our active contributors and original founders of Sayoni. She is a law graduate who is currently getting her qualification for the bar. She has been actively involved in the case since last year and is currently the only person on M Ravi's legal team.

Writer's note: As I am intimately involved with the case, it would not be appropriate of me to give my personal thoughts on the matter, especially since the judgment is not out yet. However, a factual account is still warranted.

27th Sept was a fairly historic day. For the very first time, the Court of Appeal in Singapore heard a case relating to sexual orientation. Judgment has been reserved till a later date.

The journey to get here has been long and filled with sleepless nights, but I personally am glad I sacrificed sleep (and some sanity).

Sayoni has reported on this legal saga that started last year, with M Ravi filing a constitutional challenge against s377A in the name of Tan Eng Hong, someone who was caught for public sex with another man and charged under s377A. The charge was later dropped and substituted with s294(a), concerning an obscene act in public. Subsequently, the AGC filed to strike out the constitutional challenge and eventually, the motion came all the way to the Court of Appeal.

The hearing today focused on whether the plaintiff (the Appellant in this case) had the right to even bring the challenge. Both sides had voluminous written arguments. The AGC team was lead by Chief Prosecutor Aedit Abdullah.  It must be noted that Aedit Abdullah is a well-respected Deputy Public Prosecutor who was a former Senior District Judge. He had three assisting counsel, including Teo Guan Siew, whose resume is also fairly impressive. The Appellant's team was led by M Ravi, who is known for having brought various constitutional challenges. At the time of this article, I was the sole person on his legal team.

We would like to call on our readers to support this petition to protest the discrimination against lesbian football players: click here. 

FIFA: Call Out this Foul Play

Even before the Women's World Cup kicks off this Sunday, June 26, the rules have already been broken. 

For the past two years the Nigerian Football Federation has conducted a witch-hunt to kick women off the national team who were suspected of being gay. And the team's coach just bragged to the New York Times that she has dealt with “the big problem” of lesbianism. 

FIFA, soccer’s world governing body, has a powerful record of fighting discrimination. Now as Nigeria takes the field in the Women's World Cup opening game, FIFA needs to give coach Uche the red card: publicly condemn systematic discrimination and take the necessary steps to end homophobia in the league.

This is breaking news: no other news media outlet has reported this at the time of publishing. Sayoni is able to report this based on our own sources closely involved in the case. At the time of writing, the judgment has not been published in Singapore Law Review, or been reported on Singapore Law Watch. The citation of the case, for those interested, is Tan Eng Hong v Attorney General, [2011] SGHC 56. However, Sayoni has obtained a scanned copy of the judgment, which we are glad to attach for the perusal of our readers. Once it has been reported on the Singapore Law Watch, we will be glad to provide that link for our readers.

The High Court of Singapore has dismissed the appeal against the decision of the Registrar to strike out the constitutional challenge to s377A, lodged by Mr Tan Eng Hong. The challenge to s377A arose out of the arrest of Mr Tan Eng Hong and another man in a public toilet months ago, as we reported then. He was initially charged under s377A.