Conference Report - 8th ILGA Asia Conference
ILGA Asia is pleased to present our 8th ILGA Asia Conference Report which contains the contents from our last conference in Seoul, South Korea in 2019.
Executive Summary
From 19-23 August 2019, ILGA Asia and the host organization Rainbow Action against Sexual Minority Discrimination welcomed 310 LGBTI activists and allies from 46 countries around the world to the 8th ILGA Asia Conference in Seoul, South Korea. The 5-day conference was divided into 2 days of pre-conference and 3 days of main conference. Of the 310 participants coming, 8 of them identified as intersex. 32% of all participants are cisgender female, 29% cisgender male, 11% trans female, 10% trans male, among other non-binary identities. Regarding their sexual orientation, 16% participants identified as bisexual, 53% with same-sex attraction, 20% heterosexual, and 12% pansexual. There was a notable increase in the number of people who identified as agender and asexual at this conference compared to the previous year.
There were 104 participants coming from ILGA member organizations from all the regions, while there were 34 member organizations coming from Asia. Out of almost 400 scholarship applications received, a total number of 118 participants were awarded with a scholarship to attend the conference, covering from only the conference fee, to the whole package of transportation, accommodation and other expenses. These scholars were selected by the ILGA Asia Executive Board on the basis of their engagement at the conference, either through organizing, facilitating or speaking at a workshop, or volunteering for various tasks; the community they represented; and the region they came from. Applications that were incomplete or submitted after the deadline were not being considered.
Most participants came from Asian countries, with the majority of them from South Korea and its neighbors: China, Japan and Taiwan. 9% of them are from South Asian countries, 16% from Southeast Asia, and 3% from West Asia. A fifth of participants were coming from other regions.
From 19-20 August, there were a total of 9 pre-conference events on different topics: women, lesbian, intersex, trans, bisexual, youth, advocacy and research, marriage equality, and interfaith. Some of these events were only open to pre-selected attendants.
From 21-23 August, there were 4 plenaries and 25 concurrent sessions. These sessions were selected from 124 proposals submitted by LGBTI community and allies around the world. Priority was given to topics that aligned with the theme and objectives of this year’s conference, had never been discussed at previous ILGA Asia conferences, emerging issues with huge impact to Asian communities, and those featuring speakers representing diverse identities and geography of Asia.
Of all the sessions at the main conference, nine of these sessions had at least a trans speaker, while almost every time slot has a session related to trans people and their issues. Five sessions had at least 1 intersex speaker, while 2 of them were dedicated to intersex issues. Women, intersex and non-binary speakers and facilitators were present in all of the sessions.
This year, the conference elected new 7 members to the Executive Board, while 4 members of the previous board remained. For the first time, the youth representative was elected. The Constitution was amended to include a new position in the board: bisexual representative. Also, for the first time, member organizations were presented with ILGA Asia’s audited financial statement with the opening of new bank accounts since 2018. The conference also adopted its own Standing Orders to be used in place of the current ILGA World Standing Orders.
