Life and Future of British Colonial Sexual Regulation in Asia (HKLJ Focus Section)

Preface by Lynette J Chua and Michael Hor.  This focus issue was inspired by recent developments on same-sex sexual regulation that has roots in British colonialism in present-day Asian jurisdictions.  In January 2014, the Indian Supreme Court reversed the lower court's decision and ruled that s 377 of the Penal Code was constitutional.  Ten months later, Singapore's final court of resort, the Court of Appeal, handed down its landmark decision upholding the constitutionality of s 377A of its Penal Code. 

     The judgments were deeply disappointing and troubling to us, the joint editors of this focus issue.  Whereas the struggles for sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) minorities in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States have turned favourably towards the legal recognition of same-sex relationships and adoption, 42 out of 54 Commonwealth countries, most of which were British colonies, continue to struggle for the decriminalisation of same-sex sexual conduct... Published in Volume 46, Part 1, 2016, Hong Kong Law Journal.  The table of contents of the focus issue is as follows:

Focus: The Life and Future of British Colonial Sexual Regulation in Asia
Preface Lynette J Chua and Michael Hor	1
Trans* Individuals and Normative Masculinity in British India and Contemporary Pakistan Shahnaz Khan	9
The Wife as an Accomplice: Section 377 and the Regulation of Sodomy in Marriage in India Saptarshi Mandal	31
The Limits of Liberty: The Crime of Male Same-Sex Conduct and the Rights to Life and Personal Liberty in Singapore Jack Tsen-Ta Lee	47
Legacies of Exceptionalism and the Future of Gay Rights in Singapore Stewart Chang	71
Pride or Prejudice? Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Religion in Post-Colonial Hong Kong Amy Barrow and Joy L Chia	89
International Law and the Rights of Gay Men in Former British Colonies: Comparing Hong Kong and Singapore Carole J Petersen	109
Towards the Elimination of Prescriptive Sexual Regulation in Family Law in Singapore Leong Wai Kum	131
Asia and Oceania LGBTI Law Reform: Breaking the Log-Jam The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG	151

Articles are available on Westlaw.  Click here to read the abstracts.