Content warning: This blog includes descriptions of violence against LGBTI people. We are publishing these details to bear witness to survivors’ experiences.
Thailand and Taiwan are hailed as champions of the rights of LGBTI people in Asia, as the only two places in the region to legalise same-sex marriage. However, rights won at the registry office do not always translate into safety online.
Digital violence continues to threaten LGBTI people, undermining their human rights and progress made. Thai and Taiwanese authorities must do more to combat it.
When did Thailand and Taiwan achieve marriage equality?
Taiwan was the first in Asia to achieve this milestone, legalising same-sex marriage in 2019. This move also led to important reforms such as expansion of the rights to marriage for binational same-sex couples with mixed legal statuses and joint adoption for same-sex couples.
According to the Gender Equality Committee’s telephone surveys, public support for marriage equality steadily rose from 52.5% in 2020 to 69.1% in 2024. However, marriage equality does not shield LGBTI people from abuse online.
Marriage equality, achieved through the amendment of Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code in June 2024, was a major victory for rights of LGBTI people in Thailand. However, it resolved only a part of the struggles the LGBTI people face.
LGBTI activists continue to campaign on ongoing issues such as discrimination, violence and the lack of legal gender recognition.
How are LGBTI people targeted with digital violence in Thailand?
Amnesty International’s report “Being ourselves is too dangerous”, published in May 2024, documented different forms of digital violence targeting LGBTI activists in Thailand. Often, those who speak out about human rights are punished for pursuing human rights activism by doxing, threats of violence and hateful anti-LGBTI speech.
The attacks did not pause when the marriage equality law passed – some even intensified.
Amnesty International documented that LGBTI people who have advocated for legal gender recognition and non-discrimination continue to face harassment, including on Facebook, X and TikTok.
Queer Thai activist Sirasak Chaited said: “When I posted about calling for legal gender recognition, it attracted lots of hatred. I got direct messages threatening me: ‘You people are so greedy. Just shut up and stay quiet. Don’t let me find you’.”
“When I posted about calling for legal gender recognition, it attracted lots of hatred. I got direct messages threatening me: ‘You people are so greedy. Just shut up and stay quiet. Don’t let me find you’.”
Queer Thai activist Sirasak Chaited
Marriage equality has not ended marginalisation, particularly for those facing multiple layers of discrimination in Thailand.
In Malay Muslim-majority southern border provinces, Muslim LGBTI young people continue to be sent to private all-boys religious schools as a form of “conversion therapy”. Many have faced corporal punishments by members of their religious communities, such as public hair shaving and beatings.
Consequently, for safety reasons, activists there avoid publicly speaking out about their rights, including online.
How are LGBTI people targeted with digital violence in Taiwan?
Similar patterns have emerged in Taiwan. Taiwan’s first official survey on technology-facilitated gender-based violence published in 2024 showed that LGBTI people disproportionately face abuse online.
Amnesty International Taiwan also documented the cases of two prominent transgender women human rights defenders – Lisbeth and Abby – who experienced online harassment, hateful speech, doxing and use of gendered disinformation in response to their advocacy for legal gender recognition.
In August 2024, Lisbeth won a lawsuit at the Taipei High Administrative Court and the victory granted her the right to change her legal gender without necessarily undergoing surgery. However, she became a target of doxing, an act of revealing personal or identifying documents or details about someone online without their consent, typically with malicious intent. Lisbeth was also subject to online verbal attacks, including trolls falsely accusing her of being “a male rapist with a penis”.
Around the same time, Abby became the first trans person to represent a political party, standing in the 2024 general election. She saw a significant increase in targeted attacks against her coordinated through anti-trans groups recruiting trolls to disseminate hateful content.
What impact does digital violence have on mental health?
Digital violence as compared to physical violence is often dismissed as “less harmful,” yet it inflicts serious psychological harm and silences voices.
Amnesty International’s research revealed that after facing attacks in digital spaces, many LGBTI activists suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, paranoia, depression and anxiety.
“We often get discriminated against and verbally attacked offline, so we turned to the online world, but we end up facing more harassment. It’s traumatising”
Atitaya Asa, a co-founder of TransEqual, a transgender rights organisation in Thailand
“We often get discriminated against and verbally attacked offline, so we turned to the online world, but we end up facing more harassment. It’s traumatising”, said Atitaya Asa, a co-founder of TransEqual, a transgender rights organisation in Thailand.
In one case, Manun Wongmasoh, a Muslim transgender woman activist in Thailand attempted to take her own life after facing death threats linked to her activism.
Similarly, Jackie, a non-binary activist in Taiwan who witnessed transphobic online attacks against other activists, told Amnesty International: “We [LGBTI people] all have an inner security guard nowadays. Whenever we write a post, leave a comment or simply share something, we will think twice about what might happen. Just one [careless] error could lead to terrifying online bullying or harassment.”
Are there any laws protecting individuals against digital violence in Thailand and Taiwan?
While there are laws in both Thailand and Taiwan against gender-based violence, they fail to adequately prevent digital violence against LGBTI people.
Thailand’s 2015 Gender Equality Act bans gender-based discrimination, but Section 17 (2) lets officials reject complaints on vaguely defined “religious principles” or “national security”.
Because of this limitation, LGBTI survivors of digital abuse are unable to file complaints under this law. There is no specific legislation protecting individuals against gender-based online harassment, doxing and image-based abuse.
Taiwan’s current laws, including the Sexual Assault Crime Prevention Act and Stalking and Harassment Prevention Act, provide protections from gender-based violence, including removal orders for sexual crime-related content.
However, there is still no law prohibiting the advocacy of hatred both online and offline. In May 2024, Taiwan proposed a draft comprehensive Anti-discrimination Law, but legislative progress is stalling. Due to the lack of such comprehensive legal mechanisms, the possibilities and scope of redress for digital attacks are still limited for LGBTI people.
Are survivors of digital violence receiving adequate support?
Survivors who report digital violence to police officers are not taken seriously and rarely receive support. Law enforcement they do interact with lack gender sensitivity in handling their cases, which makes it more difficult for LGBTI people to report crimes against them.
Amnesty International’s research found that Thai police have failed to treat digital violence against LGBTI people as a serious matter and have pushed the burden of proof onto survivors, despite technical difficulties in obtaining evidence in cases related to online harassment where perpetrators are usually anonymous.
This unresponsiveness of the criminal justice system leaves the survivors further traumatised and the perpetrators emboldened by impunity.
Taiwan established the Sexual Image Processing Center in August 2024 and launched the National Action Plan on Combatting Gender-based Violence in March 2025. Still, implementation remains untested for cases involving LGBTI people.
Taiwanese activists have also struggled to receive support from social media platforms when facing digital attacks. Transgender woman human rights defender Nini told Amnesty International that she faced a flood of discriminatory comments and private messages on her Facebook page while advocating for legal gender recognition, echoing the aforementioned experiences of trans human rights activist Abby on X during the 2024 general election.
Despite reporting these attacks to social media platforms, both human rights defenders have received little to no support from the companies. The situation escalated to such a point where a civil society group that had invited Nini for a talk faced backlash as a result.
What should governments do to protect LGBTI people?
The governments of Thailand and Taiwan should reform existing policies or implement comprehensive action plans to respect, protect and fulfill the right to non-discrimination, in better compliance with international human rights law and standards.
They should also address the disproportionate threat to LGBTI human rights defenders’ freedom of expression in the digital civic space.
The Thai government must amend the 2015 Gender Equality Act, lifting all restrictions on filing complaints on gender-based violence and discrimination. It must also enact comprehensive legislation to prevent, investigate and prosecute online gender-based violence and provide redress and support for survivors.
The government of Taiwan must prioritise the passing of the Draft Anti-Discrimination Act in line with international standards to eradicate all forms of discrimination including gender-based violence in the digital space. It should also employ holistic policy measures to address advocacy of hatred in balance with freedom of expression under international law and standards.
Marriage equality is merely a milestone, not the finish line. Until every LGBTI person can speak up and advocate for their rights in the digital space without fear, the struggle continues. The Thai and Taiwanese authorities have no excuse for inaction – they must urgently #MakeItSafeOnline for LGBTI people.
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