Hla Myat Tun from Colors Rainbow, an LGBT advocacy organisation stated of Myanmar police, “They see them as a walking ATM. If they need to fill their quota, they arrest transgender sex workers, or gay guys. They harass them, they arrest them, even gang-rape them in the police compound” (The Guardian).

Aung Myo Min created Colors Rainbow in 2007 after having realised that Myanmar’s “main human rights violation was ignorance”. The organisation trains volunteer paralegals to document occurrences of homophobic and transphobic activities. By recording this information and through further research they aim to educate the wider public and to propose a new anti-discrimination law that they hope the new liberal government, the National League of Democracy (NLD) will adopt.

At a time when Myanmar is leaving behind its authoritarian past and navigating the discriminatory laws put in place by the British, it is essential that minorities including the LGBT community are aware of their legal and human rights so that their voice may find a place in the rewriting of Myanmar social and political life.

These messages are being spread effectively through film. This year, Myanmar held their second &PROUD LGBT Film Festival, which premiered a biographical documentary about Aung Myo Min titled Di Lo A Chit Myo (This Kind of Love), among other short films.

Similarly, EngageMedia is holding multiple screenings around Myanmar aiming to educate audiences of the experiences of a wider range of minority groups. Among the films is Turning Tables production That’s The Way I Am, a film exploring a homosexual man’s experience in coming out and the fear that characterised his childhood.