We make this statement at the first-ever gathering of LGBTQI+ and SOGIESC-diverse communities in Asia since the Trump administration’s return to power. Our very presence here is a declaration of resistance and history in the making. We stand bold, united, and unshaken: we will fight the US administration and their allies in their war against rights, gender justice, diversity, inclusion, equality, and freedom.
Within days of Donald Trump’s return to power in January 2025, his administration launched an all-out war on human rights, dignity, and justice.
In a calculated attack on the most marginalized communities, the US administration reinstated the Global Gag Rule, cutting off critical funding for reproductive health and rights worldwide. He issued sweeping Executive Orders erasing protections for LGBTQI+ people, banning transgender athletes, criminalizing gender-affirming care, and silencing movements for equality. The U.S. government froze nearly all foreign assistance, forcing life-saving programs for LGBTQI+ people, women, people living with HIV and marginalized groups to shut down overnight. By February 7, organizations began receiving termination notices, severing their ability to serve communities most at risk.
This is not just an attack on LGBTQI+ rights, it is an assault on gender justice, reproductive justice, racial justice and our collective freedoms.
We are witnessing a coordinated effort between the US administration and the world’s most powerful tech corporations to erase history, silence dissent, and suppress movements for justice. The removal of Black History Month, Women’s History Month, and even the branding of Pride and reproductive rights products is a chilling warning: they are trying to erase us. Social media power players like Google, Facebook, and X are conspiring with authoritarian forces to control the narrative and dismantle decades of hard-fought progress.
But we refuse to be erased. We refuse to be silenced.
The insistence that gender-affirming care is not real healthcare is a direct attack on evidence-based, life-saving medicine. The bans on gender-affirming care for minors and trans athletes are not just policies — they are part of a broader, dangerous ideology that seeks to strip us of our dignity and autonomy. This is not just about LGBTQI+ people. This is about the right of every person to exist freely, without fear of state-sponsored violence and repression.
when
"An attack on transgender and intersex rights is an attack on women’s rights, gender justice, and the fundamental freedom to determine our own lives. In the same way authoritarians and anti-human rights regimes unite on hate, we will unite on power."
From Hungary to Uganda, from Russia to Indonesia, we see the rising tide of oppression. This is not just about one leader or one administration—it is about a global system of repression that seeks to silence and erase us all.
We will not stand by as anti-rights agitators war on development, dismantle global cooperation, and undermine human rights worldwide. We will not be divided. We will not be intimidated. Across Asia, and the world, we are uniting. From feminist movements to SRHR advocates, from HIV activists to labour organizers, from grassroots organizers to environment conservationists and human rights defenders —we are coming together in the largest cross-movement, cross-constituency resistance in history.
We have a plan for the next four years. We will fight back at every front: in the streets, in policy halls, in the courts, in the media, and in the culture. We will use the power of art, film, music, literature, and creative resistance to tell our stories and challenge their lies. We will mobilize politically, engage in grassroot action, and take our fight to every platform available – using every tool at our disposal to dismantle the systems of oppression that seek to silence us.
And we will win. Because love always wins and queer joy will be the fuel for our fight.
We commit to building alternative and sustainable resourcing for our movements and communities. We will go beyond competitive approaches to funding, and instead be guided by the principle of solidarity.
We urge donors to commit to long-term investments for our movement and communities, and empower queer organizations to cultivate their own sustainable funding strategies such as through social entrepreneurship, procuring real property to ensure offices, shelter, centers and other collective livelihood systems.
As an act of solidarity we urge organizations who have the capacity to do so to support organizations affected by the funding crisis.
We call on global allies, governments, donors, media, and the public to stand with us. The attacks on our rights are not just an American issue — they are a global threat. Now is the time to fight back. Now is the time to resist. Now is the time to stand in solidarity, be the voice of the voiceless and declare:
WE EXIST, EVERYWHERE.
WE WILL CONTINUE TO EXIST.
WE WILL NOT BE SILENCED.
WE WILL TAKE CARE OF OURSELVES AND EACH OTHER.
WE WILL MARCH TOGETHER.
WE WILL WIN.
JOIN US.
Signatories:
International Planned Parenthood Federation
ILGA World
ILGA Asia
Intersex Asia
ASEAN SOGIE Caucus
APCOM
CREA
Blue Diamond Society
Youth Voices Count
DayD/M (Thailand)
Jejaka (Malaysia)
Bandhu (Bangladesh)
RENEW (Bhutan)
The Indonesian Sisterhood of Incarcerated Women
Intersex Philippines
Intersex Collective (Indonesia)