Singapore activist in new challenge to gay sex ban

A Singaporean gay rights activist said Wednesday he has filed a legal challenge against a law banning sex between men, the third recent bid to overturn the legislation.

The law -- known as "Section 377A" of the penal code -- was inherited from the British colonial era but is rarely enforced in Singapore.

Campaigners in the city-state have renewed efforts to do away with it since India's Supreme Court last year decriminalised gay sex by overturning a statute from its own period under British rule.

The latest court challenge was filed by Roy Tan, a 61-year-old retired medical doctor, who argues the law is unconstitutional.

"I am eager to see this archaic law, which has no place in modern society, struck down," Tan said in a statement.

He argued the law can lead to gay people feeling socially isolated, depressed and suicidal, and fuels negative media representation of the LGBT community.

"By institutionalising discrimination, it alienates them from having a sense of belonging and ...