LGBT Rights in Southeast Asia: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back?

Abstract

Although in recent years many leading international actors, including the UN and European Union, have endorsed the idea that "LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] rights are human rights and human rights are LGBT rights" (Clinton, 2011), at the regional and national levels support is still far from guaranteed. The result is that while globally there has been significant progress in recognising the rights of LGBT people, at times assisted by and resulting in cultural transformation, there has also been an accompanying rise in both popular, religious and political homophobia in many states. These conflicting and frequently highly contradictory dynamics are particularly evident in Southeast Asia, where some great leaps forward in protecting the rights of LGBT people have occurred in parallel with substantial setbacks. For example, in late 2014, a Malaysian Appeals Court ruled that a ban on crossdressing was unconstitutional, while a Singapore Court held that a law criminalising consensual same-sex conduct between men was constitutional. This paper explores the debates and trajectories of LGBT rights in Southeast Asia from four different perspectives in order to assess not only the overall state of LGBT rights in the region, but also to consider how further progress towards meaningful protection of LGBT rights can be achieved.

Stress, Challenges, Discrimination and Sense-Making Processes of Gay University Students: The Social Stigma Approach

“…Reflecting other studies (Tang & Poudel, 2018;Wilkinson et al, 2017) focusing on LGBT students' experiences and situations in Asia, before the students came to the university, many were afraid of the problems of sexual orientation, discrimination, and social stigma from their classmates and in classroom environments. However, after spending several semesters on-campus with their classmates and in their classroom environments, many expressed positive experiences, in particular all expressed that sexual orientation did not limit their development.…”

The prospects for the legalization of same sex marriages in vietnam

“…Although it is true that the declaration disappointed the LGBT community who had expected the region to be more committed to the protection of LGBT rights, it is indeed a progressive regional step compared to its previous fully skeptical position on human rights: 'They contributed to authorizing political language and imagery in which making of rights claims, and the performance of right claiming become a legitimate activity'. 81 At least there has been change and, along with it, members like Vietnam are now expected to have national human rights institutions, especially when the domestic idea of establishing similar human rights protection mechanisms has long been frozen in the hands of politicians. It might also pave the way for the further institutionalization of human rights in the country.…”

“…Proponents of traditional family values believe that the legitimization of homosexual marriages triggers the recognition of immoral and unnatural activities. 92 Meanwhile, conservative politicians and lawmakers are worried about the perpetuation of foreign institutional values, for example the meddling of the EU through EU anti-discrimination legislation, which has led them to take anticipatory actions in the form of a legal backlash against same sex marriages.…”

LGBTQI Rights crucified in Indonesia? New Penal Code anti missio Dei?

“…Although the causes and drivers of anti-LGBTQI sentiment are diverse in most of these countries, religiosity has often been cited in the literature as a key factor behind societal rejection of homosexuality and same-sex marriage (Barnes & Meyer, 2012;McGee, 2016;Janssen & Scheepers, 2019). There is an extensive body of literature supporting this fact in relation to several world religions (Haidt & Graham, 2007;Herman, 1997), generally the contempt with which LGBTQI people have been treated by intolerant Islamic conservatives in Southeast Asia countries (Lee, 2012;Peletz, 2011;Wilkinson et al,2017), but more particularly in Indonesia (Boellstorff, 2004;Habib, 2010;Zulkffli & Rashid, 2016).…”