Southeast Asian LGBTQ+ Research Network

1. Developing Culture-centred LGBTQ+ Research in Southeast Asia through Storytelling

Funded by SEAIP in 2024/5, the project comprises two research components. The first is a collaborative autoethnography among core group members of the network, aimed at an in-depth exploration of our challenges and strategies for navigating Eurocentric, cis/heteronormative institutions and research landscapes. The second is a survey conducted with individuals working towards LGBTQ+ equity in Southeast Asia to identify priorities for research and intervention in the region. The findings are currently being analysed and will be made public once they are ready for dissemination. Publications from the project can be downloaded from this Google folder.

Key publications:

Tan, K., Liem, A., Pamoso, A. H. G., Trinh, V. D. M., Bin Ibrahim, M. A., & Sakunpong, N. (2026). An exploratory mapping LGBTQ+ research and intervention priorities in Southeast Asia (2025–2035). Psychology & Sexuality, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2026.2673535

Bin Ibrahim, M. A., Pamoso, A. H. G., Truong, Q., Liow, J. W., Delos Santos, J. J. I., Ratanashevorn, R., Ojanen, T. T., Htike, N. L., Hastuti, L. W., Liem, A., & Tan, K. (2026). “It felt like walking in the dark”: A collaborative autoethnography on the challenges of conducting LGBTQ+ research in Southeast Asia. Journal of Homosexuality, 1–26. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2026.2676172

Trinh, V. D. M., Ibrahim, M. A. B., & Tan, K. (2026). Challenges in advancing LGBTQ+ equity and research in Southeast Asian countries: A brief report. Sexuality, Gender & Policy, 9(3), e70056. https://doi.org/10.1002/sgp2.70056

2. Kami Survey: Malaysian LGBTQ+ Mental Health Survey

Kami Survey is a large-scale study launched in late 2023 to assess the prevalence of mental health issues and access to the social determinants of mental health among LGBTQ+ people in Malaysia. It received more than 700 valid responses, and publications from the research team covering areas such as mental health disparities, mental healthcare, media harm, and the harms of conversion practices, can be downloaded from this Dropbox link. The project received funding from the Williams Institute, UCLA.

3. Queer Belonging, Mobility and Kinship in Contemporary Vietnam

This ongoing research programme explores how LGBTQ+ Vietnamese negotiate belonging, kinship, care, and emotional life across mobility trajectories within and beyond Vietnam. Drawing on narrative inquiry and affect-informed approaches, the project examines how sexuality is lived through family relationships, educational migration, homecoming, obligation, aspiration, and everyday negotiations of visibility and authenticity. Rather than approaching queer lives primarily through frameworks of identity disclosure or liberation, this body of work foregrounds relational forms of belonging and the everyday practices through which queer individuals sustain connections across places, generations, and social worlds, with particular attention to intra-Asian mobility, rural–urban migration, queer homecomings, and the emotional dimensions of family life in Vietnamese and Southeast Asian contexts.

Key publications:

Thinh, M. P. (2026). Belonging and care in queer homecomings: kinship and emotional geographies in Vietnam. Gender, Place & Culture, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/0966369X.2026.2645552

Thinh, M. P. (2026). Affective belonging and negotiated authenticity: Vietnamese gay men navigating sexuality, kinship and emotional health in Thailand. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 28(5), 630–642. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2025.2554719

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