Localisation and the Global Politics of LGBTQ+ Corporate Advocacy: Insights from Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan

Abstract Book of the 5th International Conference on LGBT studies

Year: 2026

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Localisation and the Global Politics of LGBTQ+ Corporate Advocacy: Insights from Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan

Mark Porteous-Johnson

ABSTRACT:

This project represents the development of a conceptual framework designed to promote context-sensitive transnational LGBTQ+ advocacy with particular focus on the interaction between local Queer communities, multinational corporate actors, and intermediary organisations that represent the global corporate Pride infrastructure. With a regional focus on major Asian business centres Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan, I employ a range of academic concepts from cultural political economy, Queer and feminist literature, and intercultural, decolonial studies to assess how the global LGBTQ+ rights movement flattens and assimilates Queer experiences, neglects cultural and historical differences, and replicates the rights imbalances of neoliberal Western LGBTQ+ rights frameworks towards a Queer universalism which neglects local context. I begin with an exploration of the ‘Homocapitalist’ and ‘Homonationalist’ critiques of Rahul Rao, Daniel Conway, Jasbir Puar and others, before delving into the history of the LGBTQ+ movement, its growth within and alongside Western capitalism (John D’Emilio, Lisa Duggan, etc), and how it interacts with the global human rights movement (Dennis Altman, Philip Ayoub). From here I consult the work of scholars on Asian sexuality and LGBTQ+ rights such as Travis S. K. Kwong, Petras Liu, Lynette J. Chua and Joseph N. Goh to examine the local cultures and politics of sexual and gender diversity in the region and how these interact with the global structures of LGBTQ+ advocacy that govern multinational Pride interactions. The resulting framework informs an ongoing PhD project which employs collaborative co-production methods to design pragmatic solutions for embedding Queer decolonial principles into multinational Pride advocacy.

Keywords: Homocapitalism; Localisation; Advocacy; Transnationalism; Decolonialism