Becoming Queer and Religious in Malaysia and Singapore

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.

Sharon A. Bong is Associate Professor of Gender and Religious Studies at the School of Arts and Social Sciences, Monash University Malaysia, Malaysia. She is author of The Tension between Women’s Rights and Religions (2006) and is a regular forum writer for the Catholic Theological Ethics in the World Church and a consultant with the Ecclesia of Women in Asia.