Resilience of Asia’s LGBTQ+ Community

Asia’s LGBTQ+ culture is having a moment, but greater visibility has brought new challenges

• As Asia's LGBTQ+ community makes headway into the mainstream, calls for equal rights have grown louder.
• Some countries have enacted protections for LGBTQ+ people, but prejudice, discrimination, gender-based violence persist in many others. Several Asian countries still outlaw same-sex relationships.
• Taiwan is the only country in Asia that has legalized same-sex marriage across the country from 2019 onwards, but that hasn't inspired any of its neighbours.
• All across the region, LGBTQ+ communities are pushing for change finding many creative ways to move forward.
• They are often up against authoritarian regimes and laws dating back to the colonial era. However, this doesn’t prevent the community from coming up with inventive ideas to push back.
• In this reading, we take a look at how LGBTQ+ activists are coming up with interesting ways to protest discriminatory rules against their community in Asia.