Mobilizing gay Singapore : rights and resistance in an authoritarian state

229 Pages·2015·1.206 MB·English

by  Lynette J. Chua

Mobilizing Gay Singapore
In the series Sexuality Studies,
edited by Janice Irvine and Regina Kunzel
Also in this series:
Thomas A. Foster, Sex and the Founding Fathers: The American
Quest for a Relatable Past
Colin R. Johnson, Just Queer Folks: Gender and Sexuality
in Rural America
Lisa Sigel, Making Modern Love: Sexual Narratives and Identities
in Interwar Britain
Mobilizing
Gay Singapore
Rights and Resistance
in an Authoritarian State
Lynette J. Chua
Temple University Press Philadelphia
TemPLe UnIveRSITy PReSS
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19122
www.temple.edu/tempress
Copyright © 2014 by Temple University
All rights reserved
Published 2014
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Chua, Lynette J., 1977–
mobilizing gay Singapore : rights and resistance in an authoritarian state /
Lynette J. Chua.
pages cm. — (Sexuality studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBn 978-1-4399-1031-3 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBn 978-1-4399-1033-7
(e-book) 1. Gay rights—Singapore. 2. Gays—Political activity—Singapore.
3. Gay liberation movement—Singapore. I. Title.
HQ76.8.S55C48 2014
323.3'264095957—dc23
2013043280
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American
national Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library materials, AnSI Z39.48-1992
Printed in the United States of America
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
In loving memory of Catherine L. Brown

Contents
Preface and Acknowledgments ix
1 mobilizing Gay Rights under Authoritarianism 1
2 Legal Restrictions, Political norms, and Being Gay in Singapore 26
3 Timorous Beginnings 45
4 Cyber Organizing 63
5 Transition 79
6 Coming Out 98
7 mobilizing in the Open 118
8 Pragmatic Resistance, Law, and Social movements 146
Appendix A: Research Design and methods 169
Appendix B: Study Respondents: Singapore’s Gay Activists 179
Appendix C: Singapore’s Gay movement Organizations
and major events 186
notes 187
References 197
Index 211

Preface and Acknowledgments
Living in this country is like drinking bubble tea1 with a normal
straw. you just have to suck extra hard, and finally you get to the
pearl! (Stella, gay activist in Singapore)
As this book went to press, gay activists in Singapore waited for the
country’s highest court to rule on the constitutionality of Section
377A of the Penal Code, the provision that criminalizes sexual conduct
between men. The cases of Tan Eng Hong v. Attorney-General (2013) and Lim
Meng Suang and Kenneth Chee Mun-Leon v. Attorney-General (respectively,
Tan Eng Hong 2013 and Lim Meng Suang) mark one of the first attempts
to claim gay rights through the judicial branch of the de facto one-party
state.2 But it is by no means the first milestone for Singapore’s gay movement.
Gay activists’ endeavors in Singapore stretch beyond the courtrooms and
reach back in time nearly twenty years. The currently pending lawsuits are
only one important step in their struggles for justice and equality in a state
where law is used to stifle basic civil-political liberties, hamper collective
mobilization, and control political dissent. Speaking out in Singapore,
especially in the form of collective action, is seen as resistance against the
ruling powers, regardless of how that resistance is carried out and what it
concerns.
Although law is central to the tactics of Singapore’s gay movement, few
of its actions have focused on litigation or other forms of public contestation
through formal political institutions. In this book, therefore, I provide an