PETALING JAYA, Dec 14 — Queer advocacy group Justice for Sisters (JFS) found in its surveys that 38.6 per cent of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in Malaysia have thought of migrating or seeking asylum because of rising anti-LGBT sentiment.

Aside from contributing to ‘brain drain’ issues in the country, the migration of queer Malaysians also perpetrates class issues as those who have the means to migrate to safer countries, usually developed countries in the west, are professionals, said JFS co-founder S. Thilaga.

"But if you don’t have the means, then what are your options?

"To assimilate into these majority heteronormative, cisnormative ideas,” she said at the launch of JFS’ media guide about reporting on conversion practices in Malaysia.

Heteronormativity refers to the normalised ideal of heterosexuality while cisnormativity refers to the normalisation of being cisgender.

The list of safer countries now also includes Asian countries that view LGBT with more acceptance, such as neighbouring Thailand, Thilaga added.

Besides that, she said that queer Malaysians who leave the country have to uproot themselves, leaving behind family, friends, and other loved ones, only to face a different set of challenges in another country.

JFS communications consultant Faris Saad referred to this phenomenon as the ‘pink exodus’.

Thilaga attributed the cause of the issue to the complicity of the state and state actors in promoting conversion practices, which adds pressure on queer Malaysians to self-censor and to not express themselves as who they are.

The discrimination from the state and public institutions prevents queer Malaysians from being able to report cases of violence or discrimination, she explained.

Last month, Thilaga criticised the Johor state government’s plans to establish a rehabilitation centre for LGBT people, likening conversion therapy to torture.

Conversion practices, which consists of psychological treatment or spiritual counselling to change a person’s sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual, is widely seen by the medical and scientific community as potentially harmful and a form of pseudoscience.

The practice is opposed and has been legally challenged, or even banned, in countries such as Australia, Brazil, Chile, China, Ecuador, Israel, Lebanon, Malta, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.