A recent report described discrimination against LGBT people in this country as “pervasive”. Same sex sexual acts can result in fines, prison sentences of up to twenty years, and even caning. And now some members of the government want to make these laws even harsher. Welcome to Malaysia. Yet one gay man has taken on the law…and won. He took his sodomy charge to Malaysia’s top court who found the Islamic provision used was unconstitutional.

To help us understand why Malaysian society seems so unready to even accept LGBT people, we spoke with Dr Joseph Goh, a Senior Lecturer in gender studies in the School of Arts and Social Studies at Monash University Malaysia.