The 10th ILGA Asia Conference 2025, hosted in Kathmandu, Nepal from the 24th of February 2025 to the 28th of February 2025 at the Soaltee Hotel, was the biggest LGBTIQ conference in Asia.

As the Conference brought together leaders, activists, community members, human rights defenders and many others from all over Asia and beyond to Kathmandu, Nepal, it stood out as a benchmark event for the LGBTIQ community in Asia. The Conference was supported by the Blue Diamond Society, a pioneer organization in Nepal advocating for LGBTIQ rights since 2001, who were the local host.

The conference encouraged diverse voices and groups to participate, organize, share and collaborate on defending individual and collective rights as they relate to gender, sexuality, identity, and human rights. As recent global events made a palpable impact on the conference proceedings, attendees recognized the need to build even stronger alliances and find creativity in sustaining movements across the region.

Read the Full Report Here

The 10th ILGA Asia Conference reached a significant milestone hosting its largest ever conference with 604 registered participants including 111 scholarship recipients who actively enriched the quality and discussions at the conference.

The local host organization, Blue Diamond Society, played a crucial role in the success of the conference by mobilizing dedicated volunteers. A total of 25 volunteers from Nepal were mobilized, with clear role divisions and coordination ensured by focal persons from both ILGA Asia and BDS. Their dedicated support in logistics, participant assistance, and event management was crucial in maintaining the smooth flow of the conference. Beyond operational efficiency, the volunteers’ active involvement also demonstrated local ownership, strengthened community engagement, and created a welcoming environment, showcasing how grassroots participation is central to the success of regional movements.

604 LGBTIQ Activists and Allies

The Conference was diligently organized through the dedicated efforts of 28 ILGA Asia staff and board members. Additionally, sign language interpreters and translators were employed throughout the Conference improving accessibility where possible to a wider range of participants. Also on site, there were medical professionals providing needed medical care for the attendees. Similarly, supporting the documentation of the Conference were a talented local media crew taking photographs and videos with consent from the attendees as well as a team of six diligent notetakers from CUE who attended every open session throughout the conference.

Diversity Dynamics: Unifying for a Just, Inclusive, and Sustainable Asia

Following the previous conference in Ho Chi Minh City, which was themed "Our Trials, Triumphs, and the Future We Demand," the 2025 conference sought to deepen the discourse on several critical areas. Entitled Diversity Dynamics: Unifying for a Just, Inclusive, and Sustainable Asia" the conference explored the following sub-themes.

Attendees engaged in diverse sessions, workshops, and plenaries addressing contemporary challenges and opportunities for the LGBTIQ community in Asia. With 604 participants from 49 countries, it was ILGA Asia’s largest and most successful conference to date. Organized jointly with Nepal’s Blue Diamond Society, the event featured impactful discussions alongside community spaces, performances, and networking opportunities.

CONFERENCE THEME

  • In 2025, we are still witnessing how LGBTIQ persons are inordinately impacted by these crises and left out of humanitarian and other relief responses. Sessions under this theme were:

    • Humanitarian Pre Conference - Day 2

    • Intersections of SOGIESC and Complex Emergencies in Asia: Building Resilient Communities and Inclusive Responses - Day 3

    • Plenary 4: Conflict and Crisis - Day 5

    • Queer Voices in Conflict: Advocacy, Inclusion, and Justice - Day 5

  • In Japan and Nepal, court rulings are starting to pave the way for marriage equality, albeit with many legal hurdles for the requesting couples, and breaking down constitutional barriers. In Thailand, same-sex marriage is finally one step closer to being legalized by the passing of a marriage equality bill with overwhelming public and political support. Sessions under this theme were:

    • Marriage Equality Preconference - Day 2

    • Plenary 3 Marriage Equality Movements Across Asia (Day 4

  • LGBTIQ youth-led movements and organizations often suffer from lack of capacity and resources, inhibiting their growth, development, and potential impact. Sessions under this theme centered the voices of young LGBTIQ human rights activists and youth-led organizations:

    • Youth Preconference - Day 2

    • Love, Rage, Joy and Collective Care - Using Arts to build desi queer affirmative spaces for advocacy - Day 4

    • Movements for LGBTIQ+ Youth and Children in Taiwan and Thailand - Day 3

  • LGBTIQ communities across Asia continue to experience a mixed bag of legal and policy successes and setbacks, with serious regressions noticeable in the form of right-wing attacks on trans-inclusive legislation and the introduction of legislation that would criminalize—and in some cases prescribe capital punishment for—being LGBTIQ. Sessions under this theme were:

    • Intersex Preconference - Day 1

    • Informal Labor Preconference - Day 1

    • Visible in Law, Invisible in Data: Constructing a Socio-Legal Framework to Include Intersex People in Official Statistics - Day 3

    • The frontiers of law and policy in the East Asian trans equality movement

    • The Economic Cost of Discrimination: Data, Insights, and Pathways to Inclusive Growth - Day 3

  • LGBTIQ people across Asia bear multifaceted identities and often experience compounded forms of discrimination, particularly those belonging to minority groups, who live with disabilities, who are economically insecure, communities discriminated on the basis of caste, who live with compromised health, and others who face systemic exclusions. Sessions include:

    • Building Intersectional Solidarity: Navigating Invisible Disabilities in Queer Advocacy and Community Spaces - Day 3

    • Mobilizing Cross-constituency Advocacy to Advance Sexual Rights in Asia and Pacific - Day 5

    • Building and strengthening collaboration with businesses: Strategies of engaging corporates in LGBTIQ+ movements - Day 4

    • AI and Disability: A look into the future of accessibility - Day 5

  • Anti-rights and anti-gender actors influence, fund, and capacitate decision makers and non-state actors across Asia to develop and put into practice discriminatory laws, policies, and social practices that exacerbate pre-existing inequalities for LGBTIQ communities. Extremist and fundamentalist beliefs, oftentimes instrumentalized by these actors, provide a discursive basis for campaigns of hate, intolerance, and violence against LGBTIQ and other marginalized communities, and create barriers to services, access to justice, and contribute to shrinking civic/public space for LGBTIQ communities. Sessions include: 

    • Communication and Campaign Preconference - Day 2

    • Unmask Organized Transphobic Attack: Understanding Anti-trans movements across Asia and our fightback - Day 4

    • Trans Pre-conference - Day 1

DAY 1 & 2
Preconferences

During the first two days of the Conference, several groups coalesced in preconferences around the main conferences themes. The primary objectives of the preconferences were to meet other participants from within each sub-group, discuss priority issues, and prepare a statement to be read on the final day of the Conference. Several of the organizers of the preconferences also subsequently organized sessions for the main conference that related to the preconferences. These preconferences allowed participants to come together, engage in discussion, and unite in voicing their issues, as well as drafting statements to be read on the final day plenaries.

DAY 3, 4, & 5
Sessions

The final three days of the Conference marked the official opening to the general public including a welcome plenary. Over three days, organizers arranged for various panel discussions, workshops, and activities related to the conference themes. A total of five plenaries and 27 sessions were conducted.

Queermunity
Space

In the outdoor area of the Conference venue, various organizations displayed helpful and informative tools, resources, information, and gifts for attendees at the Queermunity community space. These ranged from freebies such as underwear with emboldening messages to brochures about LGBTIQ organizations working in various countries to fundraising campaigns. Some of the displaying organizations were Sangsan Anakot Yawachon Foundation, Gehendra Dhimal Foundation, iSEE & ICS, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), A Queer Museum, Rainbodhi SG, and Youth Voices Count. Attendees were able to access invaluable information on health and safety, coalition building, and networking with other organizations.

Arts and Culture Space

The Arts and Culture Space at the ILGA Asia Conference consisted of visual works from LGBTIQ artists and activists from across Asia including contemporary artworks, poetry, graphic novels, paintings, photography and much more. The space allowed attendees of the Conference to understand different cultures, learn from each other’s various stories, and a space for introspection and learning. Approximately 11 artists and art collectives displayed their works over the course of the Conference. Some of the displaying collectives included Humans of Queer, Transgender equality Hong Kong, Art Haaat, Krishnachura: Center for Gender Minorities Rights, Gehendra Dhimal Foundation, A Queer Museum, and various individual artists.

When asked about the most valuable or memorable moments, many attendees highlighted the importance of networking and community building. The first-day trans pre conference and the intersex pre-conference were particularly noted for their significance in fostering meaningful discussions. Some attendees also appreciated the mental health research findings session and the anti-gender pre-conference, which they found relevant and impactful. Additionally, the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the conference was highly valued, with one participant mentioning the importance of being represented as a lesbian woman with blindness.

Memorable Moments & Key Takeaways

  • “I think this platform really helped me to build my networking skills and also my communication skills…everytime I hear someone else’s story it’s so much relat[able]. I think it has also healed me to be a better person…I felt really safe here because everyone is queer, and also people who are not from the queer community have been really respectful. This is the most safest that I have ever felt in my life”

    —Anmol, Nepal

  • “The gatherings of different identities in one place really helped a lot of people…especially personally for me for 35 years, I thought that I am the only one in the world so this type of event really connects me with my community, with the people around me”

    —Anonymous Participant

  • “The most interesting part of this conference was meeting people from different countries, background, perspective and relating to them. Collective realization that it's not just Nepal going through a tough time but we all are experiencing this. This platform also has helped me build a network and encouraged me to open up. Everyone is open minded and it's super easy to smile and start a conversation without any hesitation“

    —Anonymous , Nepal

  • “It feels like the entire queer world is here, there's a lot of safe space, a lot of supportive space, no masking…. you can just be your authentic self….. you can show up anyway you want and there will be no judgement…..I gained a lot of theoretical understanding, what else is happening in the rest of the world, how we can collaborate with other countries and organizations”.

    —Anonymous, India

Media Exposure

“This is an opportunity for Nepal to lead discussions that shape policies across Asia,” BDS Executive Director Manisha Dhakal was quoted as saying by the Kathmandu Post. “Love is the foundation of our identities and movements. This conference has shown that love is a force for justice and positive change. Nepal’s progress in LGBTIQ+ rights should inspire others to follow.””

— Erasing 76 Crimes

“This conference arrived at a critical time. The US government is pulling back its support for global human rights, including LGBTQIA+ rights. This shift makes it more important for local groups and activists to unite and create change” 

— Nepal Monitor

“The sessions addressed the issues such as political repression, humanitarian crises, and anti-rights movements while uplifting youth-led initiatives driving change.”

— The Himalayan Times

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