Jean Chong
Jean Chong has been an LGBTQ activist for more than 20 years. She is the Executive Director and founder of the ASEAN Feminist LBQ Network (11 countries in South East Asia) based in Bangkok, Thailand. Jean also leads and co-founded Sayoni, a queer feminist organization in Singapore that organizes community events, conducts research, and advocates for equality, well-being, and dignity to improve the lives of LBTQ people.
Her activism began as a volunteer with Safehaven, a gay Christian support network, eventually becoming their first female vice chairperson. Jean went on to become a founding member of an inclusive church, Free (First Realize Everyone is Equal) Community Church, and served as their first chairperson. Expanding her activism into local advocacy, she became a part of the core team of People Like Us in Singapore.
Jean is the Asia advisor for the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice and the current Chairperson and founding member of the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, a regional network of Southeast Asian LGBTIQ groups lobbying for the inclusion of LGBTIQ rights in the ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism. In her past roles, she has worked for OutRight Action International as their China Program Coordinator.
Jean holds a Masters of Human Rights and Democratization from the University of Sydney (EU scholarship). She is the winner of the AWARE Champion for Gender Equality and Justice Award 2018 in Singapore and the APCOM Community Hero Award for the Asia Pacific region in 2018.
My Sessions
Closing Panel : Lesbianizing the world
Silvia Casalino
Jean Chong
Rutendo Madzikanda
Mohira Suyarkulova
Cristina Gonzalez Hurtado
Kseniya Kirichenko
Lopa Banerjee
Incredible, inspiring and fierce activists are resisting, leading fights and shining lesbian genius all over the world. As the final panel of the conference, we have the immense joy and honour to be joined by lesbians representing other regional networks to find common languages, build bridges, coordinate our strategies, learn from each other’s struggles and […]