Singapore couple challenge annulment of marriage after sex change
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says the country is not yet ready for same-sex marriage
Singapore's ruling on same-sex marriage is about to be tested after a husband changed sex PHOTO: AFP
SINGAPORE:
A Singaporean couple have launched a legal challenge after authorities annulled their marriage because the husband underwent a sex change, a lawyer said Monday. The city-state voided the marriage last year, saying the operation made their partnership a same-sex union that is illegal under Singapore law.
Singapore is a modern and vibrant society in many ways but attitudes towards homosexuality are still conservative and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said the country is not yet ready for same-sex marriage.
Opposite sex marriages rate in Britain at lowest level since 1862
The couple, Faith and Bryce Volta, married as man and woman in 2015, the Straits Times newspaper reported. Faith, the husband, then underwent sex change surgery and updated her national identity card to read 'female', the paper said.
Six months later the government's Registrar of Marriages met the couple to discuss the sex change and later informed them the marriage would be annulled. The couple have now asked the High Court to review the decision taken by the registrar, confirmed lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, whose law firm is representing them for free.
Singapore comes under pressure over female genital cutting of babies
Authorities previously cited the country's laws which state marriage is a union between a man and a woman as the reason for annulling the union. Singapore maintains legislation dating back to British colonial rule making sex between men a criminal act, although it does not actively enforce the law.
Nevertheless support for gay rights is growing due to more relaxed views among the younger generation and the large expatriate community.
A Singaporean couple have launched a legal challenge after authorities annulled their marriage because the husband underwent a sex change, a lawyer said Monday. The city-state voided the marriage last year, saying the operation made their partnership a same-sex union that is illegal under Singapore law.
Singapore is a modern and vibrant society in many ways but attitudes towards homosexuality are still conservative and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said the country is not yet ready for same-sex marriage.
Opposite sex marriages rate in Britain at lowest level since 1862
The couple, Faith and Bryce Volta, married as man and woman in 2015, the Straits Times newspaper reported. Faith, the husband, then underwent sex change surgery and updated her national identity card to read 'female', the paper said.
Six months later the government's Registrar of Marriages met the couple to discuss the sex change and later informed them the marriage would be annulled. The couple have now asked the High Court to review the decision taken by the registrar, confirmed lawyer Eugene Thuraisingam, whose law firm is representing them for free.
Singapore comes under pressure over female genital cutting of babies
Authorities previously cited the country's laws which state marriage is a union between a man and a woman as the reason for annulling the union. Singapore maintains legislation dating back to British colonial rule making sex between men a criminal act, although it does not actively enforce the law.
Nevertheless support for gay rights is growing due to more relaxed views among the younger generation and the large expatriate community.