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13 - LGBTQ Rights: Singapore

from V - Rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 February 2022

By
Lynette J. Chua
Edited by
David S. Law
David S. Law
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
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Summary

In recent years, LGBTQ rights have scored a number of high-profile legislative and judicial successes around the world, including the legal recognition of same-sex relationships and non-binary gender identities. However, the advancement of LGBTQ rights still faces significant obstacles in many jurisdictions, even when it comes to basic issues such as the decriminalization of homosexual relations. This chapter focuses on the case of Singapore to examine the politics of LGBTQ rights, and, in particular, the ways in which activists interpret and respond to challenging structural conditions. Based on the author’s fieldwork, and written from both socio-legal and constitutional law perspectives, the chapter analyzes why LGBTQ rights activists who had long avoided rights litigation changed their minds and brought a constitutional challenge against the criminalization of same-sex relations, the outcomes of the litigation campaign, and the future of LGBTQ rights in Singapore.

Keywords

SingaporeLGBTQ RightsRights LitigationRights MobilizationPragmatic ResistanceRights ActivismSocial Movementssame-sex relationshipsRights movementlaw and society
Type
Chapter
Information
Constitutionalism in Context , pp. 281 - 302
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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References

Primary Sources

Barclay, Scott, Bernstein, Mary, and Marshall, Anna-Maria (eds.), Queer Mobilizations: LGBT Activists Confront the Law (NYU Press, 2009), chs. 1 (Bernstein, Marshall, and Barclay), 3 (Rosenblum), and 7 (Frank, Boutcher, and Camp).Google Scholar
Sperti, Angioletta, Constitutional Courts, Gay Rights and Sexual Orientation Equality (Hart, 2017) 19–102.Google Scholar
Tremblay, Manon, Paternotte, David and Johnson, Carol (eds.), The Lesbian and Gay Movement and the State: Comparative Insights into a Transformed Relationship (Ashgate, 2011), ch. 9 (Offord) and Conclusion (Tremblay, Paternotte, and Johnson).Google Scholar

Secondary Sources

Neo, Jaclyn L. (ed.), Constitutional Interpretation in Singapore: Theory and Practice (Routledge, 2016), chs. 2 (Harding), 4 (Thio), 6 (Lee), and 12 (Thiruvengadam).Google Scholar
Tan, Kevin Y. L., The Constitution of Singapore: A Contextual Analysis (Hart, 2015), chs. 2, 8, and 9.Google Scholar
Thio, Li-ann, A Treatise on Singapore Constitutional Law (Academy Publishing, 2012), chs. 11 and 13.Google Scholar

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