With great humility and excitement, I am thankful for the opportunity to contribute to the 2022 ASC Annual Report, sharing my heartfelt perspective as the ASC Chair.

2011 was the year the ASEAN SOGIESC Caucus (ASC) was formally established. But the spark started in 2008.

2008 was the year when, together with a motley crew of crazy LGBTIQ activists, participated in the ASEAN Civil Society Conference (ACSC)/ASEAN Peoples Forum (APF) held in Jakarta, Indonesia. We just had one goal – to have sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) language included in the final list of recommendations for the conference. We jubilantly prevailed and since then, this has been the norm in all ASEAN civil society declarations. Of course, the rainbow flag was flying everywhere in the venue as we claim the ACSC/APF as a safe space to do our LGBTIQ rights advocacy.

We aimed bigger while we continued working together remotely since we all work in different Southeast Asian countries. This was to have the rights of all people, regardless of SOGIESC, be included in the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD). Knowing how some ASEAN member-states have been aggressively opposing our initiative, we know the big possibility of failing. In 2012 the AHRD was adopted without SOGIESC. This further ignited the spark that turned into a flame.

That flame, I am proud to say, has continued burning ever so brightly as we continue that same goal we had back in 2008.

In the ASC 2022 report, you will read how we successfully continue our focused work on the projects we have embarked on. It has been a journey filled with warmth and inspiration as we, the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, collectively continue to dedicate ourselves to creating a more inclusive Southeast Asia. Our path has been illuminated by the hope we’ve kindled, the lives we’ve touched, and the lasting change we’ve ignited.