2020 is perhaps the most challenging year for people worldwide and COVID-19 has brought about extreme changes across the globe, amplifying the challenges that LGBTIQ persons faced in ASEAN. It has forced many of us to adapt and adopt new strategies to survive the isolation and discrimination that is unique and specific to our communities. Instead of bowing down to the immense problems created by the pandemic, many LGBTIQ groups with the support from the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, reacted quickly to address the ordeals faced. After all, surviving in defiance against all odds has always been the core strength of our queer communities and as Southeast Asians who have often had to face institutionalized discrimination from authoritarian governments in the region.

This year’s report demonstrates the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus’ impact from the local to the regional and how a centralized network supporting Southeast Asian LGBTIQ groups doing important work is so essential in propelling the movement forward. In many of our programs, we strived for quality and depth over quantity and being uncritical. The aspirations and actions peppered throughout the report set in motion will be a corner stone for the human rights of LGBTIQ persons in the region and influence generations to come.

However, LGBTIQ rights remains underfunded and uneven in Southeast Asia on so many levels; where many funders often do not understand the diversity of the region and pay scant attention to it. In spite of these issues, we will continue to disrupt the status quo and continue to queer what Asian LGBTIQ activism looks like in the region.

At the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, we are very proud of what we have achieved over the year despite the upheavals of political and pandemic uncertainties. Together with our partners and LGBTIQ communities, we look forward to building a post pandemic future that is dynamic, resilient and feminist.