CamASEAN Gay Pride around May 17 in Cambodia

Photo: Banner from RoCK Facebook page.

The Rainbow Community Kampuchea (RoCK) and ASEAN SOGIE are organising the CamASEAN Gay Pride for this year’s International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia on May 17 & 18 in Cambodia. The sessions are aimed towards acceptance and to raise awareness of LGBTI issues within the Cambodian society.

The CamASEAN Gay Pride will consist of four workshops on the 17th & 18th of May:

(1) IDAHOT: Voice to Voiceless (17th May – morning session)
The session is to invite homosexual couples who live together for more than 30 years (among them are Muslim couples and indigenous couples). They will share how they live under the same roof for many years and how they advocate for acceptance in their community. In addition to that, commune leaders will come and share how they act towards accepting the homosexual couples and individuals living in their villages.

(2) Safe Coming out as LGBTI in Cambodia (17th May – afternoon session)
The session is to invite LGBTI individuals (representing businessmen/women, university students, and employees) who are accepted by their family & friends.

(3) Family Acceptance of LGBT Individuals (18th May – morning session)
The session is deemed to be the most important one as receiving acceptance from the family is the major struggles for most LGBT individuals in Cambodia. The slogan of the session is “Family is like our SKIN & Coming Out is a right.”

(4) LGBT Sensitization for the Legal View (18th May – afternoon session)
The session is aimed as a follow-up to CamASEAN’s first LEGAL awareness workshop with Cambodia. This workshop will share legal analysis from university students who are studying law and international relations to review how the laws work in Cambodia towards LGBTI people.

RoCK is a Cambodia-based LGBTI organisation which has its work focus in the provinces Kampong Chnang, Siem Reap, Battambang, Kompong Som, and Takeo. For more information on the group please visit their Facebook page or website.
 

 
The ASEAN SOGIE Caucus is a network of diverse human rights activists in Southeast Asia that aims for the inclusion of SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender identity and expression) in the ASEAN Human Rights Mechanisms in order to promote and protect the human rights of people regardless of SOGIE in the Southeast Asian region.
For more details, visit their website or Facebook page.