Jean Chong is a

Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, Gay men, gay, Bisexuality, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the Capital punishmen ...

activist. She co-founded Sayoni, an LGBT rights organization, and serves as one of the leaders of the ASEAN Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Gender Expression Caucus, an activist collective. Chong holds a master's degree in Human Rights and Democratization.

Life and work

Chong was raised in

. Growing up as a lesbian, she "always wished there were

lesbian A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...

role models." She first started in her activism by volunteering with a gay Christian support network, Safehaven, and became their first female vice chairperson. Subsequently, she co-founded an inclusive church, Free (First Realize Everyone is Equal) Community Church and served as their chairperson. Looking to expand her horizons in helping others, she went on to be a part of the core team of an LGBT federation, People Like Us in Singapore. She is also currently a part of the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus, a regional network of South East Asia LGBTIQ groups lobbying for the inclusion of LGBTIQ rights in the ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism.

References

Singaporean LGBTQ rights activists Living people Singaporean lesbians Year of birth missing (living people) {{Singapore-bio-stub