<i>A Luta Continua</i>: The Movement for LGBTI Rights in Timor-Leste

DILI, TIMOR-LESTE – “This day means freedom,” says Domingos Gonsalves Barros as he waves a rainbow flag high above his head. “We can finally express ourselves without feeling intimidated by those people who bully us.”

Barros, a gay university student, is one of the 1,500 people who took part in Timor-Leste’s second-ever LGBTI Pride parade on July 20, 2018. Led by a transgender marching band and featuring modern dance performances, prayer groups, and stirring renditions of traditional Timorese resistance songs, the parade traced a colorful path through the capital city of Dili, a celebration of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI) community.

“Visibility is important,” says Natalino Guterres, the slight, 28-year-old activist who orchestrated the event, as well as Timor-Leste’s first Pride parade in 2017. “Many LGBTI get bullied, threatened, harassed, so it’s meaningful for them to go out on the street and feel safe, proud to be themselves.”

“And on the other side, for them to wear dresses, makeup, wigs – it was probably shocking for some people,” he says. “But I think it’s good; it’s the start of a conversation that isn’t happening in this country.”