Asia Pride Games (The Straits Games): Past, Present, and Future

Over the past few decades, 'LGBT+', 'gay', or 'queer' sports scenes have proliferated across the world. In Asia, the first multi-sport regional LGBT+ sports event was organized in 2002 in Malaysia, and has grown into a community with over 1,000 participants across many countries. These were 'The Straits Games' (TSG), now called 'Asia Pride Games' (APG), and were founded with the mission and spirit of fostering friendship and a healthy lifestyle among queer individuals. Hosted in 10 different countries across 21 editions, TSG/APG have instigated personal transformations and reconfigured how its members experience their identities, sense of national and regional belonging, health, lifestyle, community, and friendship. This article draws upon an ethnographic and oral history approach to chart a first history of this community and organization, exploring its origins in Malaysia and Singapore; emotional moments, such as enduring police attempts at extortion in Indonesia; and important historical turns, such as its registration as legal entity in Taiwan in 2021. In doing so, this article explores a topic that has thus far been radically undocumented in regional and international sports history, setting the scene for new research directions in making sense of the socio-cultural impact of sports in Asia and beyond.