Under the warmth of the afternoon sun, two young women embrace each other with affection. One holds the other by the waist while the other leans in for a kiss. Behind them are all the colors of the queer spectrum.

Thai photographer Watsamon “June” Tri-yasakda captured the scene in Myanmar’s first Pride celebration in 2019. For the past five years, she has been working on United Love: Documenting Pride in Asia, a growing series of photographs of Pride and other LGBTQ events across the region. Her series shows that even in the face of opposition, people across Asia are dedicated to fighting for equality.

“Asia is very behind for LGBTQ people. Things seem good on the surface, but all you can do is hold hands with your partner in the streets,” she says.

Five decades after the Stonewall riots in New York City, LGBTQ communities are still fighting for equality. Pride parades are a central element of this fight and have become a beacon of hope to anyone feeling like an outcast. In the Asia-Pacific, the LGBTQ movement has gained more visibility over the last decade, especially after Taiwan took the lead in legalizing same-sex marriage in 2019.

Still, even Tri-yasakda’s home of Bangkok, known for its tolerant culture, hasn’t had a pride parade in more than a decade. She started this project to understand issues related to the LGBTQ community around Asia.

Her first stop was Phuket, where Thailand’s only regular pride parade takes place. The festival there is largely organized by the expats and supported by the local commercial scene. “It’s more like a getaway festival for tourists,” Tri-yasakda says. “There’s a little activism going on; they work with local hospitals on HIV prevention matters, for example. But it isn’t a very political event, and the local community doesn’t get too involved,” she says.

In 2017, Tri-yasakda went to Singapore for Pink Dot SG, the local version of LGBTQ Pride. That year, the government announced that only citizens and local residents could attend, and they built a fence to surround the event. “But foreigners went anyway, even if they had to stay outside the barricades. Many couples stayed together along the division line, holding hands over the fence.” Singapore, too, criminalizes sexual activities between two men. Even though the infamous section 377A of the criminal code has not been enforced since 1999, it still sends a message of inequality across society.

Myanmar had its first Pride in 2019. The country has virtually no equality laws, and sexual activity between members of the same sex is a crime. The LGBTQ community is still tethered and non-vocal. In particular, the local transgender population is targeted, many times by the police force. “They don’t need to commit any crime,” says Tri-yasakda. All it takes is for them to be standing on a corner, and the police officers come and try to frame them in one way or another. I’ve heard it many times.”

The first time Tri-yasakda experienced strong opposition was in Seoul in 2018, when she stood face to face with a large group of anti-gay protesters. “They were handing out flyers and holding signs saying homosexuality is a sin, that a family is a straight couple and a baby,” she recalls. “But once the march started, we all forgot about them, and it was wonderful—we marched to the sound of K-pop.”

In 2019, Tri-yasakda also visited Chiang Mai, where the Pride festival resumed after a ten-year hiatus. In 2009, marchers were violently cornered by conservative groups, who forced them to get on their knees and promise not to organize any more events. 

“People remembered the incident, of course, but their strength was renewed. Also, In Chiang Mai, I noticed the presence of a lot of young people. When you go to a lot of these events, you end up seeing the same faces. But in the last two years I’ve seen a lot of new and younger faces. University students, for instance, are really taking a stand. We also see growing support of non-LGBTQ people, family members, and the elderly.”

Asked if there’s anywhere in Asia that’s progressive in terms of LGBTQ rights, she hesitates. “Taiwan is off to a good start. But the truth is that getting married is just the first step. Other demands follow. Now Taiwanese activists want to include foreigners in the marriage law and to approve an adoption law.”

“We need to remember that, in Asia, it’s all about the government,” she says. “The conservatives are afraid of what comes next, and they see what they can’t control as a threat.”

In a conservative region that still has a long way to go for marriage equality, adoption of children, and the creation of anti-discrimination laws, Pride’s significance is clear. Despite the challenges, Tri-yasakda chooses to represent these events as what they’ve always intended to be: a diverse, colorful, loud, and above all defiant presence in the face of opposition. The road to equality is long, but people are marching.

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Website: watsamontriyasakda.com
Instagram: @junewatsamon
Behance: ~/watsamon

Contributor: Tomás Pinheiro
Chinese Translation: Olivia Li