In nearby Indonesia, human rights watchdogs have also reported a notable rise in anti-LGBTQ attacks since 2016, not long after the country experienced a spike in smartphone ownership and internet usage. This dual role of online spaces for LGBTQ communities, as both a blessing and a curse, isn’t unique to Malaysia. “They’re worried that these types of discussion and this awareness could cause problems for them in maintaining their own narratives.” “The government is threatened by that,” Elumalai says.
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There are a lot of stories out there, and new narratives about LGBT rights are emerging.”īut the consequences of such visibility have not been entirely positive.
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“LGBT communities are now taking up space for themselves as a result. “With social media we only have to release one or two e-banners, or graphics, and you can start educating people,” she says. Fifteen years ago, progress could be painfully slow, limited to distributing leaflets by hand and delivering talks to small groups. These online spaces have transformed LGBTQ activism in the country, says Nalini Elumalai, program officer for Malaysia at the human rights organization Article 19. When one of the men later brought a test case to the country’s highest court, the charge was deemed unconstitutional. Following the arrest of 11 men at a private event in Selangor in 2018, eight of whom were later charged with sexual intercourse “against the order of nature,” a number of campaign groups utilized their online platforms to raise 200,000 Malaysian ringgit (around $46,000) for the men’s legal battle called for volunteers to help put together videos and articles and to post on social media and collected anonymous stories from members of the LGBTQ community. Through this growing online presence, PLUHO and other organizations shared social media handles, blogged, and rallied interest in ongoing attacks on the LGBTQ community-often with great success.
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It started as a social collective that organized offline events before quickly morphing into an active online voice for LGBTQ rights, resources, and services, utilizing Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. So I began to use social media and online spaces to explore my own sexuality.” After a year spent studying in the U.K., where he’d expanded that online exposure using hook-up apps like Grindr, Chow returned far more energized about taking an active role in the growing LGBTQ movement in his home country. But with the advent of Facebook, he says, “I started to ‘like’ things, and the algorithm led me to people I may know, and I realized I could connect to, for example, a gay person in Taiwan. While at school, he remembers accessing LGBTQ-related resources only while researching materials ahead of a debate on whether same-sex marriage should be legalized. “At the time the internet was very new, so it was really safe to have a community space online,” she recalls. One activist based in Kuala Lumpur recalls setting up a queer community website in the late 1990s, something of an inflection point for internet penetration in the country. Activists say attitudes are changing, but many Malaysians still hide their sexuality or gender identity and live in fear of being found out.Īgainst this backdrop, online spaces have provided refuge.
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And it is still active the law was used to prosecute opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim just six years ago.Ī much-cited 2013 study by the Pew Research Center found that just 9% of Malaysians believed society should accept homosexuality. Same-sex relations, for example, remain punishable by whipping and up to 20 years in prison under a law dating back to a period when Malaysia was a colony of Great Britain. But a conservative strand of Islam remains both the dominant religion and a major cultural force, shaping the politics and policies that dictate the lives of the country’s LGBTQ citizens. Malaysia’s population is highly multicultural, with a mix of Malay, Chinese, and Indian ethnicities. At the same time, online participation leaves them exposed to censorship, surveillance, and attack by those who see these flourishing communities as an attempt to undermine conservative Muslim values and sway Malaysia “from the right path.”
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On the one hand, they have created invaluable opportunities for LGBTQ people to connect, communicate, and advocate for their rights.