For nearly three decades, Jean Chong (she/they), Founder and Executive Director of the Asia Feminist LBQ Network, has been a leading force in LGBTQI and feminist activism in Asia. Born in Singapore, she began her activism in school, later co-founding the Southeast Asian LGBTQI Network. Recognising the need for a dedicated focus on LBQ individuals, she established the Asia Feminist LBQ Network, an initiative championing research, capacity building, advocacy, visibility, funding, and intersectional rights across the region.
Here, Jean shares her motivations, the challenges facing LBQ individuals in Asia, and the pressing need for increased funding and resources. She also highlights the role of intersectionality in LGBTQI movements, the impact of patriarchy on funding structures, and how the Network is creating lasting change.
You have been working in this space for around 30 years, but how did this begin? What inspired you to become an activist?
Well, I think anger. Growing up in Singapore, there were no LGBTQI groups, just one gay club and maybe a small lesbian club. It was a deeply conservative environment where we were constantly told that we were perverts or bad people. There was no support and no positive representation. That anger fuelled my desire to volunteer and fight the injustices I had experienced and learned all my life.
And now you’ve got this vehicle to do all this work with the Asia Feminist LBQ Network. How was it originally founded and what were the motivations behind its establishment?
The idea for the network began in 2012 when we started consulting with LBQ activists in the region. We were talking about the kind of struggles we have that were not being addressed in the wider LGBTQI community. In 2019, we decided to do a consultation in Asia for LBQ activists. There, we decided that the only way we can be visible and organise is to come together to form a network, and that was how we started.
“A common mistake is assuming that all LGBTQI people suffer in the same way. We don’t. We all suffer, but we suffer differently.”
So you founded the organisation to counter some of the challenges that LBQ individuals in the region face. What are those challenges that you set out to address?
A major challenge is corrective rape, a targeted form of violence that stems from the intersection of their gender and sexual orientation, with perpetrators attempting to change or punish their identities. You’re also being targeted because you’re a woman, you’re this unruly woman that needs to be disciplined, so very often LBQ persons, and including trans people, are being targeted for corrective rape and sexual assault.
Another critical issue is sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR). In Asia, SRHR discussions rarely include LBQ people or people assigned female at birth. I’ve never attended an Asian conference that talks about abortion in the context of LBQ people. It’s as if bisexual women don’t exist, as if all queer women and trans men can’t get pregnant or have cis male partners.
These are invisible topics that the broader LGBTQI movement often ignores. A common mistake is assuming that all LGBTQI people suffer in the same way. We don’t. We all suffer, but we suffer differently.
So how is the Asia Feminist LBQ Network working to address these challenges?
We’ve been doing a lot of research. One of our studies looked at SRHR in the Malay Archipelago, examining how religion influences the reproductive rights for queer women and people assigned female at birth at a policy level.
Another ongoing research project assesses LBQ and trans funding across Asia and the Pacific. It’s no surprise that it is bad, but the motivation is to be data driven. This research helps us design programmes and our advocacy approach.
And how is the work you are doing creating impact for the LBQ people in Asia?
One of our most significant achievements is increasing visibility for LBQ organising. Our research has provided language and data that help LBQ groups articulate their challenges to civil society and women’s groups.
Funders are beginning to pay more attention and are looking to fund grassroots groups, but this remains difficult as about 70% of LGBTQI groups are not registered in Asia. As a regional network, we can capture funding and redistribute down. We have also been able to build the capacity of grassroots groups because of our annual three-month fellowship programme which supports LBQ organisations in strengthening their organisational development. We’re starting to see some of these groups start to blossom which is exciting.
Next month, we’re hosting a South Asia LBQT Leaders Convening in Kathmandu, Nepal, bringing together leaders from across South Asia to discuss and strategise. Creating spaces for connection is critical in a region as large as Asia where distance and travel costs often isolate activists, so creating these spaces is incredible for them.
“LBQ groups have not had money for so long, they’re paying for the activism with their blood and sweat.”
One of your reports, Unveiling the Guardians of Change, focuses on well-being and collective care for LBQ activists. What were some key findings?
LBQ groups are underfunded, and because they are underfunded it has a cascading effect. Funders often don’t want to look at self-care, and it is very difficult to fundraise around this. Activists are expected to give constantly, leading to burnout. Many of us juggle two or three jobs while doing this work, including myself.
We organise an annual activist self-care workshop to teach activists good practices to bring back to their groups, but it’s never enough. Even we struggle to fundraise to organise the workshop. LBQ groups have not had money for so long, they’re paying for the activism with their blood and sweat. So it’s just our initiative to try to address some of the problems.
Why is it difficult for LBQ groups in particular to access funding?
Patriarchy in the LGBTQI movement is real. All we have to do is look at funding statistics, and it tells you exactly what I’m talking about. According to research from Astraea and Mama Cash, the average annual funding for LBQ groups in Asia and the Pacific is just $1,170. Yet, Asia and the Pacific accounts for 60-65% of the global population. Considering Asia’s size, LBQ groups in Asia and the Pacific receive only 0.3% of global LGBTQI funding. So the statistics are quite horrifying.
Often funders don’t understand us because we’re feminists. We do a lot of intersectional work, so women’s funders tell us to go to LGBTQI funders, and LGBTQI funders send us back to women’s funders. But there are always feminist funders who get it.
“A lot of feminist groups see that gender stereotypes are a problem. We want to talk about power dynamics and how patriarchy affects us all. Of course, the most severely affected are queer women and women in general and anybody who doesn’t fit into the gender norms, but everybody is affected by this.”
LBQ groups tend to use a feminist framework which is about addressing power dynamics, and how people are being oppressed, especially women and LGBTQI people by the patriarchal society.
This society also punishes men for not adhering to a gender stereotype, but that suffering is very different as they have access to privilege. Meanwhile LBQ women are seen as women who misbehave, so society punishes us, especially in Asia where culture decides that you cannot be misbehaving. You cannot be unmarried, a lesbian, or a single mother.
A lot of feminist groups see that gender stereotypes are a problem. We want to talk about power dynamics and how patriarchy affects us all. Of course, the most severely affected are queer women and women in general and anybody who doesn’t fit into the gender norms, but everybody is affected by this.
So why it is so crucial to fund LBQ-specific work?
LBQ activism is inherently intersectional. Many activists work on sex workers’ rights, climate change, domestic work, trafficking, and migration, which are all deeply tied to our identities. Funding LBQ work means funding queer feminism and intersectional approaches to LGBTQI activism.
Currently, LGBTQI advocacy is very siloed. We’re really identity focused but in reality we’re more than that. I’m not just a lesbian or queer person, I’m a human rights activist. The intersectional perspective for the LGBTQI community needs to be broadened, and queer feminists, particularly LBQ groups, bring that broader perspective to the movement.
As we celebrate Women’s History Month, what message would you like to share?
Women’s History Month is a time to honour the resilience and diversity of LBQ voices. It’s a time to advocate for gender equality for all. And we look forward to making meaningful changes in the future.
Learn more about the Asia Feminist LBQ Network here. Follow their Instagram here.