Singapore remains one of the few countries in Asia that has yet to decriminalize homosexuality. Yet it has also been hailed by many as one of the emerging gay capitals of Asia. This book accounts for the rise of mediated queer cultures in Singapore's current milieu of illiberal citizenship. This collection analyses how contemporary queer Singapore has emerged against a contradictory backdrop of sexual repression and cultural liberalisation. Using the innovative framework of illiberal pragmatism, established and emergent local scholars and activists provide expansive coverage of the impact of homosexuality on Singapore's media cultures and political economy, including law, religion, the military, literature, theatre, photography, cinema, social media and queer commerce. It shows how new LGBT subjectivities have been fashioned through the governance of illiberal pragmatism, how pragmatism is appropriated as a form of social and critical democratic action, and how cultural citizenship is forged through a logic of queer complicity that complicates the flows of oppositional resistance and grassroots appropriation.

For decades, Singapore's gay activists have sought equality and justice in a state where law is used to stifle basic civil and political liberties. In her groundbreaking book, Mobilizing Gay Singapore, Lynette Chua asks, what does a social movement look like in an authoritarian state? She takes an expansive view of the gay movement to examine its emergence, development, strategies, and tactics, as well as the roles of law and rights in social processes. Chua tells this important story using in-depth interviews with gay activists, observations of the movement's activities-including "Pink Dot" events, where thousands of Singaporeans gather in annual celebrations of gay pride-movement documents, government statements, and media reports. She shows how activists deploy "pragmatic resistance" to gain visibility and support, tackle political norms that suppress dissent, and deal with police harassment, while avoiding direct confrontations with the law. Mobilizing Gay Singapore also addresses how these brave, locally engaged citizens come out into the open as gay activists and expand and diversify their efforts in the global queer political movement.

What does it mean to become religiously queer or queerly religious in one's everyday life? What narratives of becoming 'person' emerge from these lived realities? Sharon A. Bong addresses these questions by exploring the personal journeys of several GLBTIQ (Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer) persons negotiating the tensions between living out their sexuality and religiosity in the context of Malaysia and Singapore. By sharing their stories, Bong presents a broad spectrum of queer strategies emerging from participants' narratives of 'becoming', which encompass becoming Asian, becoming postcolonial, becoming sexually religious and religiously sexual, and becoming 'persons'. These strategies are used in the book as counterpoints to nationhood narratives of becoming Asian or postcolonial, which are still mired in religious-sponsored and colonial-inherited sexual regulations. Finally, Bong shows how the insistence of identifying as both queer and religious is critical in challenging the conservative social-political milieu surrounding issues of gender diversity and inclusion within these south-east Asian states.

Taking lesbians in Singapore as a case study, this book explores the possibility of a modern gay identity in a postcolonial society, that is not dependent on Western queer norms. It looks at the core question of how this identity can be reconciled with local culture and how it relates to global modernities and dominant understandings of what it means to be queer. It engages with debates about globalization, post-colonialism and sexuality, while emphasising the specificity, diversity and interconnectedness of local lesbian sexualities.

This book details queer Singaporeans' efforts to fashion their sense of national belonging and highlights how the Singaporean state could have better incorporated its diverse population into its nation-building framework. Inspired by previous studies that document the history of the gay rights movement, the construction of post-colonial lesbian identities, and online queer activism, this book invokes the concept of "cultural citizenship." It argues that as citizens, gay men appreciate the material wealth the People's Action Party (PAP) has created. Yet, the PAP's illiberal governance inhibits the development of genuine fondness for the party and, by extension, the nation. Worse, the state's heteronormative social policies further alienate these men. Even so, queer Singaporeans continue to assert their national belonging during Pink Dot and other queer events. As the first monograph to focus on Singaporean gay men, this book aims to enrich scholarly understanding of queer life in Southeast Asia. Academics and students of anthropology and sociology (especially those interested in the nation-state), Southeast Asian Studies, and Queer Studies will find this book innovative and insightful.

This look at gay paradises in Southeast Asia and the men who created them considers the obstacles gay men have faced in securing a voice as citizens, and how they have used images of paradise in Bali, Bangkok and Singapore to create a sense of refuge, construct homes for themselves, and dissent from typical notions of manhood and masculinity. It focuses on Walter Spies, a gay German painter who in the 1930s depicted Bali as an ideal male aesthetic state; Khun Toc, who founded an architectural paradise called Babylon in Thailand; and the "cyber-paradise" of Fridae.com created by a young Singaporean named Stuart Koe. Collectively, Atkins examines their pursuit of sexual justice, the ideologies of manhood they challenged, the different types of gay spaces they created (geographic, architectural, online), and political obstacles they have encountered. Gary Atkins is professor of communication at Seattle University. He is the author of Gay Seattle: Stories of Exile and Belonging--Página 4 de la cubierta.

This book approaches the subject of contemporary art by exploring the social embeddedness and identities of Singaporean artists. Linking artistic processes and production to both personal worlds and wider issues, the book examines how artists negotiate their relationships between self and society and between artistic freedom and social responsibility. It is based on original research into the discourses and artistic practices of local artists, with a special focus on emerging artists and artists whose work and perspectives engage with questions of identity. Reimagining contemporary Singapore and their place within it, artists are asserting their multiple and heterogeneous self-identities and contesting hegemonic norms and notions, as they negotiate and adapt to the world around them. This book is relevant to students and researchers in the fields of cultural studies, media studies, art, sociology of art, arts education, and race and ethnicity studies.