This May, Rainbow Railroad and international partners from 30 countries gathered in Bangkok to launch the Queer Forced Displacement Network (QFDN), a new member-led network meant to confront one of the most urgent and least resourced crises: queer and trans forced displacement.
For too long, asylum systems have been designed without LGBTQI+ people in mind, creating gaps between the needs of these people and the aid they can access.
The QFDN was created to change that, says co-chair Ryan Figueiredo: "I've spent years working in one of Asia's busiest transit corridors, where LGBTI people arrive having escaped one danger only to wait, sometimes for years, in another. Displacement doesn't just move us; it reshapes who we are and how we find each other. This network exists because the people who understand that best are the ones who have lived it, and we intend to be in the room where the decisions get made about us."
In a powerful show of global solidarity, more than 70 human rights defenders, civil society leaders, researchers, government representatives, and forcibly displaced people gathered for a three-day conference convened by Rainbow Railroad, with organizing support from Bangkok-based partner Equal Asia Foundation.
A network to address an urgent protection gap
Across the world, LGBTQI+ refugees and migrants face unique vulnerabilities. Over 60 countries criminalize same-sex intimacy, posing direct risks to their life because of who they are.
These policies may also exist in tension with the 60 active state-based conflicts worldwide, contributing to the record number of LGBTQI+ people forced to flee.
The need to address this issue has rarely been more pressing. As anti-LGBTQI+ laws spread and displacement rises worldwide, the people most affected are often the least visible in the systems meant to protect them. That urgency was felt directly at the conference: in a keynote at the main stage, Cicer, founder of CAN-Myanmar, spoke to the grave human rights violations facing LGBTQI+ communities in Myanmar, in a reminder of why a coordinated, global response cannot wait.
Two years in the making
This network is the culmination of the Queer Forced Displacement Initiative (QFDI), a two-year effort led by Rainbow Railroad that included a series of regional roundtable consultations in five displacement corridors: Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, Türkiye, and Kenya. An academic symposium additionally helped participants harness the knowledge around issues of LGBTQ+ forced displacement. "By uniting queer migrant voices across every region, we are transforming our shared struggles into an unstoppable, global mandate,” co-chair Eric Ssali said. “We are proving that our solidarity can move across borders just as powerfully as we do."
Those conversations brought frontline organizations and displaced people together to map where protection breaks down and to ask a simple question: what would it take to do this work together?
The findings and recommendations became the mandate for the network launched in Bangkok.
What happened in Bangkok?
The conference opened with a grassroots assembly to center the voices of those with lived experience and refugee-led organizations. The following day, the circle widened to include remarks from the Canadian Parliamentary Secretary, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Rob Oliphant and Canadian Ambassador to Thailand H.E. Ping Kitnikone. Expert panels on state accountability and crisis response were also held, along with a closing fireside chat with acclaimed dancer and artist Ahmad Joudeh on the power of art and movement as tools for liberation.
On the final day, the network formally launched. Founding members endorsed the network's founding declaration, which was agreed to be named the Chao Phraya Principles on the Protection of LGBTQI+ Persons in Forced Displacement. The name refers to the river that flows through Bangkok to the sea, to represent the journeys of movement, crossing and arrival of asylum seekers and refugees. The Principles set out 11 commitments grounded in international human rights law. Members also welcomed three interim co-chairs and held the QFDN's first working session, adopting a shared purpose and an initial structure to carry the network forward.
Shared Leadership, lived experience
The network will be guided through its founding year by three Interim Co-Chairs, with Rainbow Railroad serving as convening chair and secretariat:
- Mariana de la Cruz (she/her), Executive Director of Casa Frida (Mexico)
- Ryan Figueiredo (he/they), Founder and Executive Director of the Equal Asia Foundation (Thailand)
- Eric Ssali (they/them), Executive Director of The African Sunbird Network (South Africa)
“For LGBTQI+ people forced to flee, protection can't wait for the next emergency. This network turns the everyday lessons of frontline work into action that moves across borders as fast as our communities are forced to.”
- Mariana de la Cruz, Interim Co-chair of the QFDN
What’s next
The launch in Bangkok was just the beginning. In the months ahead, co-chairs and members will operationalize the network's regional structure, develop its membership and onboarding framework, and finalize the governance documents that will give the QFDN its permanent form. Rainbow Railroad remains committed to supporting the network as it grows into a more permanent, member-led structure meant to advance the safety and dignity of LGBTQI+ people forced to flee, wherever they are.
How to engage
Sign up here to receive updates on the QFDN including how to become a member.
https://www.rainbowrailroad.org/queer-forced-displacement-initiative