It is a law famously and stubbornly resistant to change. One that has outlived not only the British colonialists who drafted it, but the British empire itself. A law that survived the birth of an independent nation and a new millennium; a law rooted in the 19th century that still causes arguments well into the 21st. Yet after 80-plus years on the statute books, gay rights campaigners hope time could finally be up for Section 377A of Singapore’s Penal Code. The law, which criminalises sexual acts between men, is to face three legal challenges starting from this week, in cases likely to polarise opinion in the city state.