Today we are meeting Erik (he/him) in Bangkok! We begin our conversation by talking about different past projects of Erik such as his non-binary comic project We Have Always Been Here (CHECK IT OUT VIA THIS LINK). This comic echoes many of our recent episodes in the fact that queerness and transness is deeply rooted in the Asia Pacific region and today's widely spread hatred against the LGBTQIA* community stems from colonization and the erasure of queer and trans* bodies and history. Erik, who grew up in Indonesia and just recently migrated to Thailand, then tells us about the Indonesian queer/trans* diaspora and particularly his experience of creating the Non-Binary Forum Indonesian which is a closed discord group but can be contacted through Instagram. In line with different trans* experiences, Erik tells us towards the end of the episode about the difference in trans* rights in Indonesia and Thailand and we discuss about the aspect of the increased trans visibility in Thailand and if that automatically leads to greater rights for trans people

This episode truly goes beyond borders and is picked with empowerment (and lots of laughter). For more background information check this blogpost on our website

This podcast is partially funded by Heinrich Böll Stiftung Phnom Penh, Cambodia & Heinrich Böll Stiftung New Delhi, India in collaboration with SafeSpaceBtB

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feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: belissima@riseup.net

I am your host Béla Belissima, non-binary soul from Berlin on the journey to dismantle our cis-heteronormative world and look beyond all binaries. Re-writing our narratives and telling our own stories. Thanks for being here