Why Southeast Asia’s LGBT community is finally coming out

Social media, K-pop, boys love dramas and gay characters on Netflix – all have played a part in bringing LGBT issues into the mainstream, activists say

But greater visibility has also brought a backlash. On Facebook, people troll newlywed Thai men, in Indonesia, a woman was burned to death

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A supporter attends the annual Pink Dot event in support of the LGBT community in Singapore. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:30am, 24 Apr 2021Updated: 12:00pm, 3 May 2021

Ten years ago, as radio presenter Joshua Simon was about to share a photo and a video on Facebook, he felt nervous. The images were of him, his friends and hordes of other people enjoying the 2011 edition of Singapore’s Pink Dot rally, a celebration of the city state’s LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community.

Since its inception in 2009 the rally has drawn thousands of supporters and sponsorship from tech giants Google and Facebook, despite gay sex being technically illegal in the country. Under Singapore law (albeit one the government has said it will not enforce), gay sex between men is punishable with a jail term of up to two years.

Simon, now 30, said he didn’t know how his friends would react to the pictures of him at the rally. He had not been open about his sexuality and felt that sharing the images on social media could suggest he was “part of that community”, he said.

“I remember just being scared to even post it or share it … then I started seeing likes from people that I never thought would get it, or would support me. So that was quite incredible,” Simon said.

In 2019, Simon became one of the faces for Pink Dot. That same year, he pulled out of a TEDx talk hosted by a local university after he was asked not to make “sensitive” comments about his sexuality. That made headlines in Singapore and Simon “pretty much had to then come out to the rest of the country”.