Manchester University Press
Epilogue
Abstract
The epilogue briefly summarizes the book and its arguments. This section also offers a brief discussion on the limits of instrumentalizing nationalism and the pitfalls of a narrow identarian understanding of sexuality. I suggest that the tactic of assimilationist, third-way activism that Pink Dot has historically adopted has reached an inflection point. I draw attention to the Singaporean ambassador’s comments at the 3rd Universal Periodic Review in 2021 at the United Nations Human Rights Council when Pink Dot was invoked to strengthen the hand of the state. The ambassador’s claim that Pink Dot’s annual events show that LGBT people in Singapore do not face discrimination should be read as part of a state strategy to co-opt resistance to fortify itself. It is in this sense, I argue, that flirting with nationalism like this risks backfiring and, if nothing else, is unlikely to lay the foundations for a larger emancipatory project. A reading of the repeal of Section 377A in 2022 helps show how, rather than treating sexual rights as an identity-based single-issue topic, it is only when a broader assault on heteronormativity is launched that the state will make concessions and there are substantive gains to be had. The closing pages thus suggest that undoing heteronormativity requires recognizing the potential for solidarity across the various queered constituencies that form the counter-nation and entails rejecting the heteronormativity–nation nexus.
Abstract
The epilogue briefly summarizes the book and its arguments. This section also offers a brief discussion on the limits of instrumentalizing nationalism and the pitfalls of a narrow identarian understanding of sexuality. I suggest that the tactic of assimilationist, third-way activism that Pink Dot has historically adopted has reached an inflection point. I draw attention to the Singaporean ambassador’s comments at the 3rd Universal Periodic Review in 2021 at the United Nations Human Rights Council when Pink Dot was invoked to strengthen the hand of the state. The ambassador’s claim that Pink Dot’s annual events show that LGBT people in Singapore do not face discrimination should be read as part of a state strategy to co-opt resistance to fortify itself. It is in this sense, I argue, that flirting with nationalism like this risks backfiring and, if nothing else, is unlikely to lay the foundations for a larger emancipatory project. A reading of the repeal of Section 377A in 2022 helps show how, rather than treating sexual rights as an identity-based single-issue topic, it is only when a broader assault on heteronormativity is launched that the state will make concessions and there are substantive gains to be had. The closing pages thus suggest that undoing heteronormativity requires recognizing the potential for solidarity across the various queered constituencies that form the counter-nation and entails rejecting the heteronormativity–nation nexus.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Acknowledgements vi
- List of abbreviations ix
- Introduction 1
- 1 ‘Qu’est-ce qu’une nation?’ 33
- 2 Three faces of the straight nation 67
- 3 The work of kinship 98
- 4 Xenologizing queerness 124
- 5 Heteronormativity (un)contested – or, the will to assimilation 152
- Epilogue 186
- Index 197
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Acknowledgements vi
- List of abbreviations ix
- Introduction 1
- 1 ‘Qu’est-ce qu’une nation?’ 33
- 2 Three faces of the straight nation 67
- 3 The work of kinship 98
- 4 Xenologizing queerness 124
- 5 Heteronormativity (un)contested – or, the will to assimilation 152
- Epilogue 186
- Index 197
