There is no other word than inspirational to introduce today's guest: Prumsodun Ok (he/him), an artist, dancer, writer and founder of Cambodia's first gay dance company "Prumsodun Ok & NATYARASA". In the studio, he teaches classical Khmer dance and focuses on re-telling ancient Cambodian tales with a contemporary spirit incorporating queer expression. In our conversation, Prum talks about his identity as growing up gay and Asian-American in the USA and then migrating to Cambodia to build a new life through dancing and rediscovering his ancestrial roots. Prum goes in detail into the description of a few Cambodian tales and how they can be reinterpretated via the lens of queerness while still remaining a part of Cambodian culture and heritage. This is the very last episode of this Season 4: (South) East Asia Edition. We hope you enjoyed this season and all the background information on the countries we visited and people/communities we met along the way. It certainly has been a journey and we feel so grateful and fortunate to have had the opportunity of learning from our guests and sharing their voices with the wider podcast community. If you want to learn more about the Classical Khmer Dance and how Prum is "queering" this art form, 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 ------ if you would like to be part of the podcast community, you can now join our telegram group for frequent update on new podcast developments feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected] 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

In today's episode, we visited the LGBTQIA* center A Place To Be Yourself in the city of Siem Riep and talked with four of the community members: Kimmouy, Mouy Heng, Khunyeam and Lyhuor about their genderfluid identity. We speak about gender roles growing up in Cambodia, struggles and joys in transgressing them and different beauty standards. Towards the end of our conversation, we address the importance of standing up for each other, supporting one another in their identity discovery journey and how to center gender euphoria over negative societal attitudes. If you want to learn more about beauty standarts and how to challenge them through queerness, 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 ------ if you would like to be part of the podcast community, you can now join our telegram group for frequent update on new podcast developments feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected] 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

Our last guest during our visit of the SafeSpaceBTB community, is the fashion designer Koemyean Hin (he/him). We met him at the Phare Ponleu Selpak Artistic Centre where he works as an art teacher. In our conversation, we speak about his path to fashion and the role it played/plays in his life and identity. We then talk about his role at the artistic centre which provides (artistic) education for 1000+ children per year and the attitude and awareness of the students towards LGBTQIA* people in general. If you want to see more of the work of Koemyean Hin, follow his Facebook pageand 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 ------ if you would like to be part of the podcast community, you can now join our telegram group for frequent update on new podcast developments feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected] 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

Today's episode is once again a double trouble episode with the Sonik and Somphor, two young members of SafeSpaceBTB , as our guests Our coversation is very personal and vulnerable as the two tell us about their life as queer youngsters in Battambang (Cambodia). We talk about their upbringing, the relationship to their family, friends, school, university, social surrounding, community lovelife etc. etc.etc. allowing us a glimpse into their lived reality in the good, the less good, the joys, the pains and most importantly the resilience and once again the importance of community. If you want to learn more about the value of queer community and safe spaces in 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 ------ if you would like to be part of the podcast community, you can now join our telegram group for frequent update on new podcast developments feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected] 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

In this second episode from our visit to Battambang (Cambodia) we talk with B. Pov, the mother of SafeSpaceBTB community (see #38 for more information on the community organization) and today it is all about language! B. Pov talks to us about a specific queer language which is an adaptation of the Khmer language spoken in Cambodia. She explains to us the origins of the language as well as the importance and further development of it during the brutal Khmer Rouge regime (1975 - 1979). Towards the end of the conversation we speak about her own story, her role as a trans elder in Battambang and the hopes she has for the LGBTQIA+* community in Cambodia at large. If you want to learn more about the lessons on queer survival during the Khmer Rouge regime 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 ------ if you would like to be part of the podcast community, you can now join our telegram group for frequent update on new podcast developments feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected] 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

In this very first Cambodia episode, we talk with the founder of the LGBTQIA* community organization SafeSpaceBTB (Battambang). We were fortunate enough to get to know this vibrant community and spend a few days there (more on that to come in the next weeks ;)). With Thida, we talk in this initial episode about the early beginnings of SafeSpaceBTB, how they organize themselves and Thida tells us about some of the artistic and educational projects they have been involved in recently. If you want to learn more about the SafeSpaceBTB community organizing as well as getting an overview on queer rights in Cambodia in general, 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 ------ if you would like to be part of the podcast community, you can now join our telegram group for frequent update on new podcast developments feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected] 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

For this week's episode, we met with Tata (she/her). Tata is a trans sex worker as well as an LGBTQIA* advocate and public figure in Thailand fighting for the rights of trans* people, homeless people and sex workers. In our conversation, we go through various intersections surrounding sex work and Tata explains what it means to be a sex worker and elderly/trans*/homeless/working on the streets vs. in private establishments. Towards the end of the episode, we also talk about the sex tourism industry and the difference between the trans* and gay community in Thailand If you want to learn more about sex work in Thailand, 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 ------ if you would like to join the podcast community, you can now become a member via Steady starting at 2,50€ per month or donate directly to us via paypal: [email protected] and as always feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected] 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

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 ------ if you would like to join the podcast community, you can now become a member via Steady starting at 2,50€ per month or donate directly to us via paypal: [email protected] and as always feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected] 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

The charming guest of this episode is Charlotte (they/them) . Charlotte is part of the young feminist activist group Southern Feminist Liberation Front which is active in South Thailand and organized the first pride of the region in the city of Songkhla in 2022. In our conversation, Charlotte tells us about their road to activism, the experience of queer-feminist organizing in South Thailand as well as Bangkok Pride and also the intersection between queer activism and the pro-democracy movement in Thailand. Talking to Charlotte left us majorly empowered and hopeful for the future with a young generation of queer-feminists stepping up the game. For more background information on particularly the pro-democracy movement and the role of queer politics in it 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 ------ if you would like to join the podcast community, you can now become a member via Steady starting at 2,50€ per month or donate directly to us via paypal: [email protected] and as always feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected] 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

Our next guest of the podcast is Febby (she/her) an activist and advocate for the rights of waria women in the city of Surabaya (located in East Java). "Waria" combines the Indonesian words for a woman (wanita) and a man (pria) and can be equated to trans women in the Western context. While waria women have existed throughout Indonesian history, they face many forms of discrimination and persecution today. Febby works with the organization Perwakos to support waria women in Surabaya In this episode, we talk about this work and all the issues that waria women are facing: HIV (and the stigmatization), struggles around sex work, lack of access to jobs, no legal recognition of their gender etc. etc. etc. If you want to learn more about waria people, 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 ------ if you would like to join the podcast community, you can now become a member via Steady starting at 2,50€ per month or donate directly to us via paypal: [email protected] and as always feel free to reach out if you have any feedback, questions, suggestions for future topics/guests via Instagram or e-mail: [email protected] 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