Trinh, Viet D.M., Bin Ibrahim, Muhamad Alif, and Tan, Kyle (2026) Challenges in Advancing LGBTQ+ Equity and Research in Southeast Asian Countries: A Brief Report. Sexuality, Gender & Policy, 9 (3). e70056.

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Abstract

This brief report provides preliminary findings on the challenges faced by academics, community workers, and other individuals involved in LGBTQ+ rights activism and research in Southeast Asia (SEA), with larger shares of participants from the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Descriptive statistics showed that the mean number of reported challenges across the region was 4.68 (SD = 3.00; range = 0–11). The most common challenge was “Lack of funding, safe spaces and proper facilities,” followed by “Existing laws and policies that marginalise local LGBTQ+ communities” and “Too reliant on Western knowledge and findings.” While the pattern of common challenges was alike among hostile and non-hostile countries, participants from hostile countries reported a higher frequency for most challenges. Fisher's exact tests revealed no differences in the number of challenges in terms of age, gender identity, sexual orientation, country group, academic status, and number of years involved in LGBTQ+ work. Our findings call for more robust investment in comprehensive landscape research on the implications of intersecting challenges in LGBTQ+ rights activism and research across SEA, which is crucial to developing an inclusive regional roadmap for LGBTQ+ equity missions.

Item ID:	92164
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	2639-5355
Keywords:	challenges; human rights; LGBTQ+; Southeast Asia
Copyright Information:	This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder.
Projects and Grants:	Southeast Asian Indigenous Psychology (SEAIP) Network Seed Grant 2024
Date Deposited:	10 Jun 2026 23:32
FoR Codes:	44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4405 Gender studies > 440506 Sexualities @ 50% 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4410 Sociology > 441004 Social change @ 50%
SEO Codes:	28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280123 Expanding knowledge in human society @ 50% 28 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 2801 Expanding knowledge > 280121 Expanding knowledge in psychology @ 50%
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