Mobilizing Gay Singapore: Rights And Resistance In An Authoritarian State

From private meetings in living rooms in the 1990s to the emergence of annual rallies and decriminalization campaigns in the past six years, Singapore's gay rights activists have sought equality and justice in a state that does not recognise their rights to seek protection of their civil and political liberties. In her groundbreaking book, Mobilizing Gay Singapore, Lynette J. Chua tells the history of the gay rights movement in Singapore and asks what a social movement looks like under these circumstances. She examines the movement's emergence, development, strategies, and tactics, as well as the roles of law and rights in social processes.

Chua uses in-depth interviews with gay activists, observations of the movement's activities, movement documents, government statements, and media reports. She shows how activists deploy "pragmatic resistance" to gain visibility and support, and tackle political norms that suppress dissent, while avoiding direct confrontations with the state.

Mobilizing Gay Singapore demonstrates how rights can be advanced effectively even when the law criminalizes not only homosexuality but also many forms of advocacy. Chua's exhaustive ethnographic interviews and careful data analysis exemplify ethnographic fieldwork at its best. This publication is outstandingly readable, almost addictive.»
- David Engel, SUNY Distinguished Service Professor of Law, State University of New York at Buffalo
«Important as a history of an oppressed, marginal community, Mobilizing Gay Singapore's accounts of how civil society actors had to operate are lucid, engaging, and sometimes deeply personal. The efforts of these individuals means that the movement has grown from nervous activism to high visibility in the country's political landscape today.»
- Dr Russell Heng, retired academic and founding member of People Like Us
Lynette J. CHUA is Assistant Professor of Law at the National University of Singapore.