content related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals, including the use of LGBTQI+ models in advertisements. Articles such as 28A, Paragraph 1(d), 46A, Paragraph 2(h), and 50B, Paragraph 2(g) explicitly ban the display of LGBTQI+ behavior in media, effectively legitimizing state-sponsored discrimination. This comes on the heels of Indonesia’s disastrous, sweeping penal code amendments in 2022, widely decried by activists and experts across sectors and movements as having potential to produce large-scale rights violations.96 In Malaysia, 2023, directives were issued by the Ministry of Education to promote corporal punishment through conversion programmes as a pre-emptive measure.These measures targeted students engaging in same-sex relationships or exhibiting divergent gender identities and expressions, particularly trans women, who were subjected to fearinducing videos depicting death.97 LGBTQI+ activists’ dreams of reform have experienced a setback recently by a notable uptick in violence and anti-LGBTQI+ rhetoric targeting sexual and gender diverse persons.98 Malaysian analysts and activists say that the current Prime Minister, Anwar Ibrahim – who communities had envisioned as a progressive reformer – and his government are imposing harsh rules and spreading anti-LGBTQI+ rhetoric to gain favor with supporters of the popular fundamentalist, ultra-conservative opposition bloc, which includes Malaysian Islamic Party, known as the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS).99 IN FEBRUARY 2024, THE THAI PARLIAMENT REJECTED THE DRAFT BILL FOR LEGAL GENDER RECOGNITION, TITLE, AND PROTECTION OF GENDER-DIVERSE PEOPLE. A NUMBER OF MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT (MPS) WERE OPPOSED TO THE BILL, WITH ONE MP ARGUING THAT THE LAW COULD CONTRIBUTE TO AN INCREASE IN CRIMES LIKE SEXUAL ASSAULT. While Thailand just recently – in June 2024 – became the third Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage,100 along with Nepal and Taiwan, 96 Human Rights Watch. (2022). Indonesia: New Criminal Code Disastrous for Rights. Human Rights Watch. https:// www.hrw.org/news/2022/12/08/indonesia-new-criminal-code-disastrous-rights 97 Asia Pacific Transgender Network (APTN). (2020). Conversion Therapy Practices: Malaysia Country Profile. https:// weareaptn.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Conversion-Therapy-2020-Malaysia_29Dec.pdf 98 Latiff, R. & Ananthalakshmi, A. (2023). LGBTQ fears grow in Malaysia as Islamists shatter reform hopes. Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/lgbtq-fears-grow-malaysia-islamists-shatter-reform-hopes-2023-08-21/ 99 Ibid. 100 Al Jazeera. (2024). Thailand becomes first Southeast Asian country to allow same-sex marriage. Al Jazeera. 35