We just finished the last quarter of this challenging year!
It is inspiring how you and broader LGBTIQ movements throughout the world continue struggling for equal rights despite the mounting threats to our very existence.
From reactionary anti-gender movements to the resurgence of macho-fascism, challenges to LGBTIQ and feminist organising have instead moved us to galvanise solidarities with other progressive movements and spark bolder ways to resist oppression.
Across Asia, grassroots LGBTIQ activists are increasingly mobilising in intersectional ways and responding to interlinked problems that affect us all.
In the recently concluded 9th ILGA Asia Conference in Vietnam, we came together to strengthen regional solidarity and chart a trajectory towards the future we demand, a future in which everyone is able to live and love freely and equally.
The first-ever ILGA Asia Queer Arts Festival (IAQAF) harnessed the power of Asian queer artists, performers and cultural workers and highlighted the diversity of our tools for liberation.
It is our hope that we continue to find strength within and beyond our communities to be able to carry on our work for human rights and equality.
This newsletter highlights our efforts to support activists and strengthen movements for LGBTIQ rights in Asia since our last update.
With the theme, “Our Trials, Our Triumphs, And the Future We Demand,” the Conference highlighted the “compounded hardships” of LGBTIQ communities in a region grappling with a global pandemic, political instability, rising anti-LGBTIQ movements, growing inequalities and some of the worst effects of climate change.
We understand that the work we do as activists poses a lot of difficulties for us on a daily basis, for some people even attending the conference is already a challenge they have to overcome. We hope your time at Ho Chi Minh City has given you the inspiration and hope needed to continue making powerful impacts in your community.
It was ICS' first time organising an international conference, and while we’re so happy to create a safe space here for our queer siblings coming from around the world, it was almost inevitable that misunderstandings happened because of our rich and diverse backgrounds and sometimes we have no ways of knowing something until it happens. In the face of misunderstandings, ICS believes in kind and mindful resolutions, because after all, we’re all in this fight against hatred and ignorance together.
We hope you all felt welcomed and had a good time in Vietnam! The conference is a dream come true for us, it marks a milestone in our 12-year local movement, and the LGBTI community, leaders and allies in our country have all been working hard to get us here. From here we’ll keep striving for more profound changes.
We look forward to welcoming you back either for work or leisure and hope that next time you will be able to witness more positive changes in our beloved country.
We’re so excited to work with Blue Diamond Society, the next host organisation, to make Nepal home to LGBTIQ activists and allies across the region at the 10th ILGA Asia Conference.
At the 9th ILGA Asia Conference, our membership elected twelve dynamic representatives from the different communities and subregions that ILGA Asia serves.
As part of the ILGA Asia Conference 2022, we featured a diverse lineup of films, exhibitions, workshops, literary works & live performances by queer artists from all over Asia. Stay tuned for more highlights in the coming weeks.
While long overdue, the welcome incoming repeal of Section 377A of Singapore’s Penal Code is overshadowed by the proposed constitutional amendment barring judicial review of laws and policies that discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons.
As “an outstanding and publicly recognised organisation that promotes and supports the advancement of LGBTIQ+ human rights,” ILGA Asia has been chosen by the 2022 Ardhanareeswara International and National Award and Recognition on Sexual and Gender Diversity Judging Committee to receive the “Pride Award.”
Together with 66 organisations, ASEAN Sogie Caucus and ILGA Asia express concern over the recent raid of a social gathering in Kuala Lumpur and the shrinking civic spaces for LGBTIQ persons in Malaysia.
This webinar, in collaboration with ICJ Asia, highlights perspectives from South and Southeast Asia on bringing anti-LGBTIQ laws, policies and practices to court.
On the 20th World Day Against the Death Penalty, ILGA Asia and the Anti-Death Penalty Asia Network (ADPAN) condemn the death penalty and its arbitrary use to punish LGBTIQ persons in Asia and call for its unconditional abolition.
In this #HRC51 side event, #LGBTIQ activists and scholars deconstruct Western colonial gender and sexual claims, explore best practices from the #GlobalSouth in decolonisation, and probe into the queerphobic legacies of Western powers that violently restrict LGBTIQ rights up to this day.
On 7-9 September, our Executive Director, Henry Koh, joined ILGA World and other regional offices along with Asian civil society partners at the Equal Rights Coalition (ERC) Global Conference 2022 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
This campaign is run by ILGA Asia and 6Rang, in conjunction with 55 organisations that signed this statement and this statement that was released alongside ILGA World.
On the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, ILGA Asia, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and five other organisations condemn the death penalty under any circumstances, including as a punishment for consensual, same-sex sexual conduct in Asia, and call for its unconditional abolition.
Manisha Dhakal from Blue Diamond Society Nepal and Guillermo Ricalde from ILGA World joined and had incredibly fruitful discussions on future collaboration and engagement with the Nepalese government.
ILGA Asia published our briefing note in conjunction with the 20th World Day Against The Death Penalty to draw attention to and provide six key recommendations to tackle the issue.
The 'Rainbow Refugee Podcast: Bridges of Hope’ is our first mini-podcast, featuring the voices of LGBTIQ refugees and activists from Afghanistan who narrate their stories of oppression, resilience, and also hope.
Forty LGBTIQ activists from 12 countries in Asia joined the training, which focused on increasing the capacity of local CSOs to spearhead their own national advocacy campaign.
Keiko Carasig is an independent queer filmmaker and multimedia artist from the Philippines. They assist the Communications Officer in conceptualising and producing effective social media and communications materials.
