Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-2jptb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-16T22:09:57.203Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

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
Get access

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

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

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

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×