Part I Experiences of being lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex in the Asia Pacific 1.4.2. Less visible identities or populations … in my country, Timor-Leste, we recognise the presence of gay and transgender only, not bisexual, lesbian and even intersex … most Timorese people do not know about these issues. We have a programme to conduct training for police officers, community leaders, [defence] forces etc. During my presentation, the participants realised … that in Timor-Leste, intersex [people] exist. They shared their stories and experiences about intersex [people]. SOGII focal point, Office of the Provedor for Human Rights and Justice, Timor-Leste, 2015 There is much less regional information available about the experiences of specific groups among the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex populations, especially: • people assigned a female sex at birth who do not have a female gender identity; for example, transgender men • women who are solely or sometimes attracted to women; for example, lesbians and bisexual women �� women who have a masculine gender expression; for example, ‘butch’ women, who may or may not be lesbian • intersex people. Unlike the abundance of gender identity terms for transgender women, traditional local terms that refer to transgender men are unusual. Those that do exist are more likely to be of recent origin, though they may attempt to frame transgender men’s identities within an historical or cultural context. Examples include thirunambi in Malaysia and India, kua xing nan in Malaysia, laki-laki trans in Indonesia, transpinoy in the Philippines, bandhu in Bangladesh, Brotherboy in Australia and tangata ira tane in New Zealand. Even where these terms exist, transgender men may find it difficult to be acknowledged as male, as frequently others refer to them using more common terms that describe butch lesbians. Many other regional terms encompass both women who are attracted to other women (a sexual orientation issue) and women who appear butch or relatively masculine (a gender expression issue). These terms may be self-chosen or imposed on someone who is perceived to not be conforming to social norms of femininity and/or heterosexuality. The words tomboi, tomboy and toms are used frequently in South East Asian countries, including Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand, and also in China where the term for a butch lesbian is tomboy or T.47 Other terms used in the Philippines are tibo, tiboli, tibam and pars. In some countries, local terms may be used predominantly within one ethnic community. For example, in Malaysia pengkid and peng are heard almost exclusively within the Malay community. These terms encompass anyone born female who steps outside gender and sexuality norms. They include “Malay girls or women who: dress in a masculine way and take on ‘masculine roles’; use gender neutral or ambiguous names; bind their chests; are in romantic relationships with women; and/or are butch lesbians and transgender men”.48 In the Pacific, the Samoan term fa’afatama describes both lesbians and transgender men, while a heterosexual woman or girl who has a masculine gender expression might be referred to as fa’atama. Recently ‘trans masculine’ has been used by some butch lesbians in Fiji.49 47 UNDP and USAID, Being LGBT in Asia: China Country Report, 2014. 48 International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (now OutRight Action International), 2014. 49 For example, see the work of Diverse Voices and Action for Equality, Fiji, at www.divafiji.com/about. Chapter 1: Understanding sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics | 17