Like any other regular day in Bangkok, Thailand, Pete went to work and was living a pretty normal life. He had a business that imported and exported fresh vegetables from neighbouring countries in South-East Asia, a family business that he shared with his sister. He was happy and in a serious long-term relationship with his boyfriend, and everything seemed perfect. That day, he and his partner went to get tested for HIV, and that’s when his life suddenly began to change.

“I found out about my HIV status in 2016 and soon after left my business because I didn’t know if I was going to live much longer. Without guidance and mental health support, I had many misconceptions about HIV, and I started to suffer from depression,” he said.

“I blamed myself for contracting HIV, and I couldn’t cope with this thought. I became a drug user, was engaging in chem sex, broke up with my partner and survived suicide attempts,” he continued. “But after receiving support from local organizations of people living with HIV, I decided to retake control of my life. I started to talk openly about HIV to help other young people live with a positive diagnosis. Even though this was never my plan, I knew I had to do it. That’s why I became an HIV activist,” he added.

Nowadays, Pete (famously known online as Pete Living with HIV) is a well-known HIV activist in Thailand and has come far since his diagnosis. He has spent the past few years building an online community for people living with HIV. In this safe space, people can connect and be comfortable enough to share their stories and experiences in an open environment free from stigma and discrimination. His Facebook group, which has strict membership requirements (for obvious reasons), has more than 1300 members.

“I created this space because I didn’t have a place to share my story. I wanted to create a platform where people living with HIV can be proud of themselves and be reminded they are not alone. No one deserves to be stigmatized, bullied, dehumanized or disrespected. Everyone deserves to be loved, respected and accepted,” he said.

In 2019, the country announced the Thailand Partnership for Zero Discrimination, which calls for intensified collaboration between the government and civil society to work on stigma and discrimination beyond health-care settings, including workplaces, the education system and the legal and justice system. UNAIDS has been involved since the outset of the initiative by providing technical assistance to formulate the zero discrimination strategy and the five-year action plan, develop a monitoring and evaluation plan and operationalize the strategy as a joint effort between the government and civil society.

Pete thinks this initiative is a cornerstone to ending the AIDS epidemic, as stigma and discrimination continues to be the main barrier to HIV services. “Although it has improved a lot over the years, I still experience stigma and discrimination when I go for regular sexually transmitted infection check-ups. I still receive judgement from nurses and doctors,” he said.

Pete has also become a passionate activist for, and speaks about the importance of, U = U (undetectable = untransmittable) at international forums and conferences. “U = U changed my life. I continue to fight for and promote U = U because its messages have the power to change the lives of people living with and affected by HIV. Still, more importantly, it can change social attitudes and tackle stigma and discrimination,” he said.

With U = U, HIV treatment has transformed the HIV prevention landscape. The message is clear and life-changing: by being on HIV treatment and having an undetectable viral load, people living with HIV cannot transmit HIV to their partners. The awareness that they can no longer transmit HIV sexually can provide people living with HIV with confidence and a strong sense of agency in their approach to new or existing relationships.

Pete launched a campaign in 2020 focusing on U = U and mental health advocacy. “Through my social media channels, I raise awareness about the importance of listening to people and their experiences and respecting them. U = U is key to helping people living with HIV overcome self-stigma and negative feelings like shame, which discourage them from accessing and/or remaining on treatment. U = U is encouraging; it can help remind people living with HIV to be proud of themselves,” he said.

Pete is now strengthening partnerships with national stakeholders and allies of the HIV response to ensure that messages related to U = U, HIV prevention and zero discrimination are amplified and reach different audiences. He is also a representative on a multisectoral task force to design and implement the People Living with HIV Stigma Index in Thailand, which will be conducted this year. He has supported the United Nations in Thailand on various campaigns, including the Everybody Deserves Love Valentine's Day campaign and the zero discrimination campaign, in which he is engaging young people from across Thailand. 

Health systems and communities have been pushed to the breaking point by the COVID-19 pandemic, a pandemic that the world was woefully unprepared for. Two years on, networks of key populations and people living with HIV are still at the forefront of the COVID-19 response, working to ensure that communities have access to timely and undisrupted HIV services. Among them is Youth LEAD, the network of young key populations in Asia and the Pacific, which in 2020 established the YKP COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund to support initiatives led by young people in Asia and the Pacific.

One of the beneficiaries is Ya_All, an organization for young lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people based in Manipur, India. “The second COVID-19 wave hit north-east India really hard, as it did across the country. We saw health-care systems collapse in front of our eyes. This greatly affected our work as we saw more and more young key populations experience delays in accessing HIV prevention services and saw an increase in mental health issues,” said Sadam Hanjabam, the founder and Chief Functionary of Ya_All. Thanks to the YKP COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund, Ya_All supported 300 young LGBTI people and members of other key populations to access telecounselling services in five districts to help them with depression and other mental health issues.

Since the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the YKP COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund has helped organizations led by and serving young people implement programmes that ensured young key populations and people living with HIV were not left behind in the HIV and COVID-19 responses. This included providing essential food and supplies of personal protective equipment, information on HIV and COVID-19 prevention and continued access to HIV prevention and treatment services, including mental health services. It also included establishing harm reduction programmes, distributing seed funding for businesses led by transgender people, providing housing and supporting digital and peer-led initiatives.

Funded through the Robert Carr Fund, the AIDS Health Care Foundation and the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific, the YKP COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund has supported more than 20 projects from 15 organizations led by young people across the region, and has made a considerable difference to the lives of young key populations.

The Viet Nam Young Key Populations Network is one of the beneficiaries of the fund in Viet Nam. Even though the country was in complete lockdown for a substantial period, with a seed grant the network managed to produce HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights digital educational content for young people at risk of HIV, distributing harm reduction materials to 15 provinces across the country.

Similarly, YPEER Pilipinas, another beneficiary of the fund, trained 1000 young people on HIV combination prevention strategies and screened more than 900 young people for HIV. With a small grant, they were able to scale up the #GetCondomPH Programme, which resulted in successfully distributing more than 11 000 condoms across the Philippines.

In Cambodia, KHANA has given mental health support training to more than 70 LGBTI leaders. The training accelerated ongoing mental health peer support to key affected populations who were experiencing mental health issues. “Online counselling sessions on how to cope with mental health issues were incredibly helpful. The YKP COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund was an effective mechanism that allowed us to provide timely support to young people in need of HIV prevention and other health services,” said Phorng Chanthorn, Senior Coordinator at KHANA.

These few examples out of the many show that young people, communities and civil society play a crucial role in pandemic responses, helping HIV programmes rebound and adapt to COVID-19 rapidly. Still, these efforts have not been easy. “Youth networks are trying to find ways to recover, adapt and effectively lead in this new funding landscape that has resulted in greater competition for donor funding. Many programmes, including this one, showcase the impact and necessity of supporting youth-led HIV programmes and initiatives. However, it’s not enough,” said Vanessa Monley, Programme Officer at Youth LEAD.

In 2020, young people accounted for 26% of new HIV infections in Asia and the Pacific. In some countries, close to half of new HIV infections were among young people, and one in three members of young key populations do not know their HIV status.

“It is critical to find innovative ways to continue to scale up access to HIV services for young key populations in the context of COVID-19, ensuring that we do not give up achieved gains, and to respond to the additional issues that have come with the pandemic, such as mental health and social support issues. UNAIDS is fully committed to supporting responses led by young people and ensuring their sustainability as we work collectively to end AIDS by 2030,” said Taoufik Bakkali, Director, a.i., of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific. 

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I started seeing people around me getting laid off and many struggled to find new jobs. Many people, myself included, started to consider starting our own businesses to sustain our livelihoods in this challenging time,” said Abraham, who is a member of a young key population community in Jakarta, Indonesia.

People in vulnerable groups have been facing huge hardships during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to a survey conducted by the Crisis Response Mechanism Consortium in 2021, 79% of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex respondents were not working owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As an effort to support the livelihoods of people living with HIV and key populations, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the UNAIDS Country Office for Indonesia partnered to conduct a training programme for more than 40 participants on fashion design and production and entrepreneurship from July to November 2021.

“As soon as I heard about this training, I was immediately intrigued because I am interested in fashion and I’m always open to try new things,” said Abraham, who was one of the participants of the training, which was facilitated by the Yayasan Rame Rame Jakarta and Kami Latu Initiative nongovernmental organizations. Classes, both online and face to face, were given on colour theory, pattern development, product development, strategic marketing, financial management, product story-making and product-making.

“I was very excited to be a part of the training and I had a lot of fun! The lessons were very useful for someone like me who is interested in starting my own small business, especially through e-commerce platforms. I gained business skills that are vital to entrepreneurship, such as marketing, calculating profits and understanding our products,” reflected Abraham. “And I also enjoyed that there were some practical sessions where we learned how to use the sewing machine to make accessories and to be creative in refurbishing traditional fabrics or plain old materials to create new improved fashion items.”

During the training programme, Abraham made earrings, bracelets and clothes alongside other enthusiastic participants. The camaraderie of the participants was strong, especially as they gathered for a fashion show and photo shoots to display their creations. Abraham stressed that these kinds of trainings are beneficial for key population communities and that, “While such training isn’t exclusively needed for key populations, it isn’t always the case where trainings provide a safe space to express oneself freely without fear of judgement.”  

In addition to participants from communities of people living with HIV and key populations, workshops were also held for women in two villages in East Nusa Tenggara, namely Nggela and Manggarai Barat. The workshops provided them with skills that complement their traditional cloth (tenun) weaving, such as design skills to develop fashionable products using Indonesia’s traditional fabric and entrepreneurship skills, in an effort to improve their incomes and livelihoods.

Krittayawan Boonto, the UNAIDS Country Director for Indonesia, said, “As we enter the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, vulnerable communities, such as people living with HIV and key populations, still need continued support and assistance to recover from economic hardships.”

In 2022, UNAIDS and the Yayasan Kusuma Buana nongovernmental organization will work together to ensure the participation of people living with HIV and key populations in the entrepreneurship trainings. Ms Boonto continued, “The entrepreneurship trainings offered through this joint United Nations project provide opportunities for vulnerable populations to apply their talents and find creative solutions to overcome challenges.” 

The training programme is part of the activities under the United Nations COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund for Employment and Livelihood, implemented jointly in Indonesia by ILO, UNAIDS, the United Nations Development Programme and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

La Beauté and Style salon, created by UNAIDS Solidarity Fund grantee Gaurav Trust, opened its doors to customers in September 2021. Located in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, India, it is one of the few Indian salons that is established, managed and run by members of the transgender community. The salon is a social enterprise set up to provide socioeconomic support and to address the age-old, yet deeply woven, stigma that the community faces in India.

“There are skilled and talented individuals from the community who fail to make a mark in the beauty industry because of stigma surrounding their identities. I know of a transwoman who was let go from a salon despite being an exceptional worker,” said Laxmi Narayan Tripathi, a key member of the social enterprise.

Despite the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act 2019, the transgender community continues to face denial and rejection in areas such as employment, health and public services. 

Ms Narayan Tripathi has been a transgender activist since 1999 and has seen discourse evolve from HIV to now encompass funding opportunities and social enterprises led by the community. Aryan Pasha, who is a lawyer, activist and India’s first transgender man bodybuilder, and Ms Narayan Tripathi are both board members of the Gaurav Trust, a community-based organization working on the promotion and protection of the health and rights of sex workers, gay men and other men who have sex with men and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex community, and young people. Its programmes specially focus on using its networks to strengthen project management, skills-building and livelihood support to nurture a self-sustaining community. Despite their collective advocacy and action over the years to advance the welfare, rights and health of transgender people, stigma remains a major challenge.

While the Gaurav Trust team acknowledge that breaking stigma is a long process, they also believe that change is inevitable. By recruiting and engaging community members, La Beauté and Style salon is an opportunity for the team to establish a platform promoting socioeconomic inclusion. It will provide a conducive space for many interested people to leverage beauty and grooming training facilities and develop essential skills, enabling them to earn a livelihood.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw people from the community who had lost jobs and had no place to live. So why not have a space where our own people can feel safe and comfortable and also create jobs and experts from within the community?” said Mr Pasha. To uphold this vision, 70% of people employed at the La Beauté and Style salon will belong to the transgender community.

The uplifting reaction from the community towards social entrepreneurship models encouraged Ms Narayan Tripathi to leverage her network to mobilize additional funding from partners and local bodies to sustain and grow the enterprise. Through the example of La Beauté and Style salon in Ghaziabad, they have been successful in creating a pipeline of other diverse social entrepreneurship projects led by the transgender community for the coming months. The team believes that interesting entrepreneurial ideas that exist within the community can succeed if funding is made available.

Established to support vulnerable populations to survive the immediate impact of the socioeconomic crises exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the UNAIDS Solidarity Fund is a critical instrument in building sustainable income mechanisms.

“Through these tools of self-reliance, we are nurturing a variety of leaders. Today, our diverse grantees are enhancing community leadership to set the path for future entrepreneurs. And the community-led social enterprises are ultimately working towards the collective objective of inclusion and socioeconomic prosperity,” said Nandini Kapoor Dhingra, Community Support Adviser at the UNAIDS Country Office for India.

For the fellow grantees of the Solidarity Fund, this project has set a precedent for sustainability and growth beyond the seed funding. As a message to the fellow grantees, Ms Narayan Tripathi said, “From the point of seed funding, it is important to think of sustainability. It remains essential to look for partners and local funders to enhance the project. It takes hard work and advocacy, but success is certain.”

Currently, the second cohort of community members is being trained in Pune, which will host the newest franchise of La Beauté and Style salon. Through this journey of hope, highs and lows, community members have been keen to grow and uplift the socioeconomic fabric of the transgender community in India. 

Watch this social enterprise featured on Indian national television.

UNAIDS is deeply saddened by the sudden death of Ly Penh Sun, Director of the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology and STD (NCHADS) Cambodia, who passed away on 9 November 2021. UNAIDS expresses its sincere condolences to his family, his friends and the country.

Ly Penh Sun was instrumental to the success of the commendable HIV response in Cambodia. He spearheaded and strived towards the last mile of ending AIDS through listening to science and embracing innovations. Under his leadership and in close partnership with civil society, Cambodia set the historical milestones of being one of the first countries globally to achieve 90-90-90 targets in 2017. Together, they set the ‘zero to roll-out PrEP’ model in the region, introduced HIV self-testing and scaled-up multi-month dispensing of ARV treatment to mitigate service disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“His leadership championed the welfare of people living with HIV and supported communities to be meaningfully involved in the HIV response,” says Khin Cho Win Htin, UNAIDS Country Director a.i. for Cambodia. Ly Penh Sun worked tirelessly to confront HIV-related stigma and discrimination and was a trendsetter for community engagement and people centred approaches. As part of his work, he supported community-led service delivery for HIV prevention tailored to the needs of key populations.

“Ly Penh Sun was a tireless champion for HIV prevention in Cambodia and Asia and the Pacific. He was very influential in the region. He has always promoted and fostered partnership, South-to-South collaboration and sharing of best practices and knowledge. He will forever be remembered as the friend of the community, an innovator and a legend of the AIDS response in Cambodia,” said Taoufik Bakkali, UNAIDS Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific. “He will stay in the memory of the UNAIDS family forever.”

GENEVA, 25 October 2021—UNAIDS welcomes the announcement by New Zealand that it has removed all travel restrictions for people living with HIV. The recent decision by Immigration New Zealand to remove HIV from the list of medical conditions deemed likely to impose significant costs or demands on New Zealand’s health services means that the blanket ban for people living with HIV to get a resident visa has officially been removed. 

“I commend New Zealand for taking this important step and hope that it will encourage other countries to remove all travel restrictions and other policies that discriminate against people living with HIV,” said UNAIDS Executive Director, Winnie Byanyima.

Legislation, policies and practices that prohibit the movement of people living with HIV are discriminatory and frequently limit their opportunity to travel, work and study abroad. UNAIDS advocates for the right to freedom of movement and non-discrimination to end the inequalities faced by people living with HIV. There is no evidence that restrictions on the entry, stay or residence of people living with HIV protect public health.

With the removal of New Zealand’s restrictions, UNAIDS counts 46 countries, territories and areas that continue to impose some form of restriction on the entry, stay and residence of people living with HIV based on their HIV status.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) in Thailand has been awarded the inaugural Circle of Excellence Award at the Fast-Track cities 2021 conference, held recently in Lisbon, Portugal. The Circle of Excellence Award showcases outstanding work in fast-tracking the HIV response and advancing innovative programming to end the AIDS epidemic in cities by 2030.

“To receive the Circle of Excellence Award for Bangkok is a great honour. It demonstrates not only the past achievements but, moreover, the future commitment to accelerate the HIV response and towards ending AIDS in Bangkok. We are proud that innovations have produced remarkable results, particularly same-day antiretroviral therapy and key population-led health services, such as specialized and holistic services for transgender people and the scale-up of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) programmes. These innovations are not only applied in Bangkok but have become models for the region,” said Parnrudee Manomaipiboon, the Director-General of the Department of Health, BMA, during the award ceremony.

Organized by the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, in collaboration with UNAIDS, the Fast-Track Cities Institute and other partners, the Fast-Track cities conference highlighted successes achieved across the Fast-Track cities network, addressed cross-cutting challenges faced by local stakeholders and shared best practices in accelerating urban HIV, tuberculosis and hepatitis B and C responses.

“Bangkok has put in place a 14-year strategic plan for ending AIDS from 2017 to 2030, which is under the leadership of the Bangkok Fast-Track Committee,” said Pavinee Rungthonkij, the Deputy Director-General, Health Department, BMA. “During COVID-19, BMA and partners have introduced innovations such as multimonth antiretroviral therapy, an express delivery of antiretroviral therapy service, sexually transmitted infection self-sampling and PrEP,” she added. Among other achievements, Bangkok has expanded its PrEP services to 16 municipal public health centres and eight city hospitals and implemented citywide awareness campaigns. PrEP in the City was the first citywide PrEP campaign focusing on transgender people in Asia.

“Significant progress has been made in the HIV response since Bangkok joined the Paris Declaration to end the AIDS epidemic in cities in 2014. It shows that mutual commitments and a strengthened partnership between stakeholders at all levels are key to an effective HIV response. Bangkok will continue to leverage support, scale up innovations and Fast-Track solutions to achieve the 2025 targets and end AIDS by 2030,” said Patchara Benjarattanaporn, the UNAIDS Country Director for Thailand.

Fast-Track cities in South-East Asia have been stepping up efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure that HIV treatment and prevention services remain unaffected by the pandemic and to protect the gains made in the HIV response. The dynamic city-based infrastructures that have been built up around the HIV response are being leveraged to implement innovative programmes to safeguard people living with HIV and other vulnerable populations and contain the spread of COVID-19.

Jakarta, Indonesia, provides a clear example of how cities are accelerating their HIV responses, enabling continued progress while taking into account the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Since the first COVID-19 outbreak, Central Jakarta, with more than 10 000 people living with HIV on antiretroviral therapy, ensured treatment continuity with the implementation of multimonth antiretroviral therapy dispensing and community-led home-based delivery. In collaboration with partners, the Provincial Health Office of Jakarta developed the Jak-Anter service, which connects people living with HIV with health facilities across the metropolitan area, allowing for direct client-organized antiretroviral therapy delivery, benefiting nearly 30% of people living with HIV in the area.

This best practice was shared at an event, ASEAN Cities Getting to Zero: Protecting Fast-Track Cities’ Gains during the COVID-19 Pandemic, which brought together five cities from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on the margins of the Fast-Track cities 2021 hybrid conference in Lisbon, Portugal, on 21 October.

“Cities play a critical role in delivering on the United Nations Political Declaration on AIDS. As we make our collective steps towards the next phase of achieving the three zeroes, we must work in partnership to address the variety and complexity of HIV epidemics. Evidence-informed national regulations will ensure effective collaboration between national and subnational governments,” said Budi Gunadi Sadikin, the Minister of Health of Indonesia.

The event allowed ASEAN cities to share innovative practices in implementing HIV programmes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“ASEAN is committed to fast-tracking the HIV response to end AIDS by 2030. We must continue to work hand in hand and to ensure equitable access to HIV services and solutions, break down barriers and improve resource mobilization for efficient and sustainable HIV responses,” said Dato Lim Jock Hoi, the Secretary-General of ASEAN.

A recurring theme during the session was how quickly ASEAN cities utilized virtual platforms to scale up access to HIV services, especially during lockdowns. In the Philippines, Pasig City delivered quality services to key populations by increasing investments in HIV programmes and treatment facilities and the use of virtual platforms. Like Jakarta, Pasig City partnered with community-based organizations to deliver antiretroviral therapy, condoms and lubricants by establishing a service delivery network with service providers and health facilities to provide core packages of health-care services during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Can Tho, a city in Viet Nam, piloted a project to deliver self-test kits to key populations, in particular gay men and other men who have sex with men and people who use drugs, through virtual platforms. In collaboration with the World Health Organization and civil society partners, Can Tho quickly responded to COVID-19 by training community outreach workers to conduct community-based HIV rapid testing and by scaling up HIV self-testing.

Bangkok’s innovations included same-day delivery of antiretroviral therapy and the scale-up of key population-led health services. Bangkok, a regional leader in pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and a provider of specialized and holistic services for transgender people, expanded its PrEP services to 16 municipal public health centres and eight city hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Young people were noted as being at the forefront of the HIV response in ASEAN cities. In an effort to reduce the number of new HIV infections among young people in Langkawi, Malaysia, the Kedah State Health Department established the GLITZ project. The programme focuses on young people, including young key populations, through various outreach activities, mentor–mentee programmes and school and university visits to educate young people on HIV prevention. 

As the Fast-Track cities network continues to grow in the ASEAN region, the complexity of HIV in urban areas is better understood. The network offers a way for cities to share best practices and experiences at a time of increasing urbanization and globalization.

“It has been 10 years since the ASEAN Cities Getting to Zero project was initiated. Since then, the project has successfully expanded to 76 cities in the region. As we see more participating cities and significant signs of progress in the HIV response, I encourage avenues for South–South collaboration. Together, in partnership, we can end AIDS as a global health threat by 2030,” said Taoufik Bakkali, the Director, a.i., of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific.

“This is the name I identify with, and I was determined to have it recognized legally,” said Dimas Cahya (his real name isn’t used in this article), a transgender man from Medan, Indonesia.

Medan, a city of more than 2.4 million people, is a long way from Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta. In Jakarta and Java, Indonesia’s most populated island, many transgender people have successfully changed their legal name to match their gender identity. However, this had never been done in Medan. Similar to the rest of the country, Medan is conservative, with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people and issues deemed “immoral”. This was the challenge that Amek Adlian, the paralegal assigned to this case, had to face.

Mr Amek saw Mr Cahya’s strong will and determination and started on research on the process of legally changing one’s name. “I wanted to get all the steps right, from gathering the required documents to preparing for the court hearing. I used my connections to consult with friends who have gone through the process in Jakarta, and got some very useful tips,” he said.

Unfortunately, not everyone who was consulted was supportive or helpful. Mr Amek recalls meeting with a legal aid organization in Medan where Mr Cahya was asked invasive questions, leaving them feeling discouraged and ridiculed. “We reached out for legal advice, but instead we got judgements,” Mr Amek said.  

Despite that, Mr Cahya’s determination never faded, and after more consultations with people in Jakarta, Mr Cahya and Mr Amek decided to go through with the court process to apply for the name change, citing “bullying” as the reason for the request. The court process stalled due to incomplete documentation. The court required an official document that shows the preferred name for Mr Cahya. “We were scrambling around looking for something that the court would accept. I asked friends in Java for their guidance, but they had never been asked for such a document before. I feared that this was an effort to complicate our case,” said Mr Amek. Eventually, they submitted a certificate from a public-speaking training that Mr Cahya had just participated in, and, unexpectedly, this certificate was approved.

“Facing the judge was nerve-wracking. The judge stressed that my request to change my full name (as opposed to just the spelling), would “erase my identity”. I had my mother with me as a witness, and she was also very nervous, despite us having briefed her prior. It was a such a relief and a surprise that the judge did not dig out any information about my gender. He stayed out of LGBTI issues completely,” Mr Cahya said.

After a six-week court process, their application was granted by the Medan District Court, and Mr Cahya became the first transgender man in Medan to legally change his name to match his identity.

Mr Cahya is not unfamiliar with being first: he was also the first transgender man to undergo medical transition in Medan, a process which came with its own set of challenges. Despite the many obstacles throughout the whole process, Mr Cahya’s optimism never faltered. “If it had not been approved, I would simply try again in Jakarta,” he said. This is only the beginning of his journey. “Next for me is to change the gender on my identity card,” he said, as his current identity card still uses the gender assigned to him at birth.

The whole process was supported by the Crisis Response Mechanism (CRM) Consortium, which is a consortium made up of the UNAIDS Country Office for Indonesia and four civil society organizations (Community Legal Aid Institute, Sanggar Swara, Arus Pelangi and GWL INA) whose mission is to respond to and mobilize resources for LGBTI emergency crises. Mr Amek himself is a paralegal with the CRM Consortium as well as a community organizer for Cangkang Queer, an LGBTI community organization based in Medan. 

Mr Amek credits the CRM Consortium for supporting this work. “Not only did CRM fund the process, but they also capacitate us as paralegals to be able to do such work and learn from each other. For me, learning from other cities was very useful. Now that Medan has done it too, I am happy to share my own lessons with paralegals working with LGBTI communities,” he said.

“Transgender communities are one of the most vulnerable groups in Indonesia. Legal recognition in the form of an identity card, particularly one that matches with the person’s true identity, is a human right that sadly is not enjoyed by everyone equally. This success gives us hope that progress is possible despite the unfavorable environment we are in,” the UNAIDS Country Director for Indonesia, Krittayawan Boonto, said. 

Since Mr Amek and Mr Cahya’s experience is the first in Medan, it is no surprise that some transgender men and women have reached out to them to discuss the process of name change, medical transition, etc. Mr Cahya and Mr Amek both agree that the first and most important step is self-acceptance. “The process will be difficult, especially in a country like Indonesia where we are not yet embraced,” Mr Amek said.

Mr Cahya echoed this sentiment, adding, “You should never give up. Set targets for yourself and remember that despite the challenges, you should not assume the worst will happen.” Mr Cahya’s infectious optimism gives light and hope to the lives of gender-diverse people all around the country beyond his hometown of Medan.