In Landmark Ruling, Malaysian Court Strikes Down Anti-Gay Law
Malaysia's top court unanimously ruled in favor of a gay man who sued after being arrested and charged with seeking sex "against the order of nature," Reuters reports.
The unidentified plaintiff was arrested in 2018 during a raid on a private home, Reuters said. He was one of 11 people to be detained on a charge of seeking sex "against the order of nature" under an Islamic law in Selangor, one of Malaysia's 13 states.
Five of those arrested pled guilty and received sentences that included caning, fines, and months-long jail sentences, recalled Channel News Asia.
The plaintiff who brought the suit contended he was innocent, but the court's finding didn't just exonerate him of the specific charge - it led to the law being overturned, with the court finding it to be unconstitutional.
Reuters details that Malaysia "has a dual-track legal system, with Islamic criminal and family laws applicable to Muslims running alongside civil laws.
"LGBT+ advocates say Islamic laws have been increasingly used to target the Southeast Asian country's gay community, with a rise in arrests and punishments ranging from caning to jailing," the article adds.
"Despite the ruling, gay Malaysian men still face up to 20 years in jail under a British colonial-era law that bans gay sex, known as Section 377," Reuters noted.
The founder of the LGBTQ rights group founder Pelangi Campaign, Numan Afifi, called the ruling "monumental," and added, "We want to live in dignity without fear of prosecution. Of course Section 377 is still there -- it's not the end, but this is a beginning."
It was the existence of the nation's civil law against same-gender sexual contact upon which the court's ruling was predicated, news reports said. The national law made the state law unnecessary and, the court ruled, such state laws are "subject to a constitutional limit".