There’s a series of articles about our work by Alexandra Dmitrianova on the website SimplySxy.
So far, three parts have been published:
Here’s the beginning of Part 1, so you have a taste:
A transgender girl baring her breasts against the military coup in Thailand, marked with pro-democratic slogans and spreading her legs, Aum Neko has once again caused a social media fury for her civil disobedience methods. Along massive positive support, the transgender student was subject to attacks on her sexual orientation and identity. “Damn ladyboy” was just one of the softer comments on social networks. Around the same time, in neighboring Malaysia, 16 transgender women were sentenced to seven days in prison and a fine for “cross-dressing”. Human Rights Watch called it a “violation of their rights to freedom of expression and privacy”. This past June’s Pink Dot, LGBT rights rally, in Singapore saw a white opposition from Muslim and Christian religious groups, calling on people to wear white in protest. On a more positive note—the first public same sex wedding was held in Myanmar this spring and surprisingly, Vietnam’s communist government doesn’t seem as hostile to LGBT people than to other civil and human rights movement.
“It’s a mixed bag (in ASEAN)”, says Ng Yi-Sheng from the Singaporean Committee of ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, campaigning to include LGBT (IQ-intersex,questioning) rights in ASEAN’s human rights documents. “On one hand, we have countries where civil unions will probably soon be legal, such as Thailand. On the other hand, we have countries where (same sex relations) are punishable with death by stoning, such as Brunei. And then we have countries in between, like Singapore, where there is a moderate level of acceptance but still a law against gay male sex.” There is one thing though, that all ASEAN members have in common, and it illustrates the long way LGBT groups have in Southeast Asia to achieve basic human rights, regardless of sexual orientation and identity. “We don’t have national anti-discrimination or anti-hate crime legislation with only some city-level ones in the Philippines. This is what worries most of us, much more than marriage and adoption rights,”Ng Yi-Sheng points out. So how visible are LGBT people in Southeast Asia, and are ASEAN and its member countries members rather, turning a blind eye to their existence in the first place? Here is our evaluation based on NGO reports, ASEAN SOGIE Caucus and International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) analysis.
