‘I Am Coming Home’: A Rare LGBT-Safe Space in Mongolia

ULAANBAATAR, MONGOLIA — Enkhjin Ganzorig opens the door of the LGBT Centre and enters with the same nonchalance a person takes when entering their own home. He takes off his shoes, washes his hands, makes himself some coffee, takes a piece of bread and sits. Right next to him is a wide window with a transgender pride flag drawn on it, and the slogan “Trans for Unity” written in blue, pink and white. “I just come in here as a habit, as if I am coming home,” Enkhjin says.

Six years ago, Enkhjin contacted the LGBT Centre, the only human rights organization for gender and sexual minorities in Mongolia. It was a difficult time for him. He thought he was different and didn’t know there were many like him.

In 2020, Enkhjin attended a program at the Centre, which he says opened up a new world for him. “I had not known other trans people except myself and thought there were very few of us,” Enkhjin says.

Founded in 2007, the Centre had to fight for its place in Mongolian society. Initially, when organizers announced various activities, nobody would show up. Other times, it would be one or two people. They continued doing their work with no immediate results. Then in 2023, for the first time, 1,200 people attended an event they organized.

Slowly and steadily, the Centre has created a physical space — a home — for gender and sexual minorities and is empowering them to embrace their identities, heralding a change in Mongolian society. “While marriage and child adoption [by gender and sexual minorities] are being discussed in developed countries, for the last 10 years we have been working on providing basic concepts, and it’s only now that we are achieving some of our goals,” says Uulen Munkhbat, deputy director of the LGBT Centre. This organization is not just providing a space for the community to express themselves but is influencing policies and working toward making the country more gender informed by training different layers of society, including those in the government.

That path, which aims to get rid of stereotypes and disseminate accurate knowledge about gender and sexual minorities, has not been smooth.

Dolgormaa Sandagdorj, GPJ Mongolia

People of diverse sexualities and gender identities sit and talk at the LGBT Centre in Ulaanbaatar.

Transgender women, gay men and others who do not identify with the heterosexual and cisgender majority in Mongolia have had a love-hate relationship with their country throughout its history. When shamanism dominated Mongolian culture, up until the end of the 17th century, gender diversity was widely accepted. Even Buddhism, also prevalent at the time, was accepting of diverse gender identities. However, when the socialist regime came into power in 1921, Mongolia started persecuting same-sex relationships, and this continued until the transition period of 1990. Since the 1990s, negative attitudes about gender and sexual minorities have continued in Mongolian society, according to a 2023 study by All for Education Mongolia, a national civil society coalition. The study found the mainstream media to be indifferent to the issue of gender diversity, a reflection of the indifference of the public in general.

The LGBT Centre experienced these prevailing attitudes when it was denied registration in 2007 as a nongovernmental organization by the General Authority for State Registration, which viewed the Centre as promoting perversion. In 2009, the same body registered the group. (While LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, the abbreviation is also widely used in reference to other expressions of gender and sexuality.)

At the Centre, located in central Ulaanbaatar, people sit with their legs crossed on soft, sand-filled chairs. The rooms fill with chatter and loud outbursts of laughter. Uulen says the rooms were consciously decorated, with activists handcrafting everything, and renovations aimed to establish a friendly, intimate space where people can be understood and obtain information without judgment.

Sunjid Dugar, chief commissioner of the National Human Rights Commission of Mongolia, says that in raising a voice about challenges facing gender and sexual minorities, it is very important to seek solutions systematically. “For sexual minorities, [the Centre serves as] a channel to share their feelings, to overcome their barriers, to build networks and to work together,” Sunjid says.

The Centre’s work is not only to fight innocuous misunderstandings. Every year, the Human Rights Commission receives complaints of violations against gender and sexual minorities.

According to the Centre, 79% of LGBT children and youth in Mongolia report they have experienced some form of bullying, 12% experienced loneliness and discrimination, and 9.4% suffered serious physical abuse.

Dolgormaa Sandagdorj, GPJ Mongolia

Tseveenravdan Tsogbat, left, executive director of the Youth Lead Mongolia NGO, discusses activities for the 7 Days of Lesbian Awareness. with LGBT Centre deputy director Uulen Munkhbat.

In 2015, Mongolia adopted a new criminal code that bans hate crimes and details non-discrimination provisions based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The law took effect in 2017. Still, what is on paper is not always properly enforced.

For years, Yalguun Munkhjoloo, 22, who uses the pronouns they and them, hated and blamed themselves for being different. Just by reading the manual of the Centre, however, they realized they weren’t alone. “If you understand and love yourself, you will be able to live as your true, authentic self,” they say.

Coming alongside a person through their journey is part of what the Centre does. The organization also offers training on gender diversity nationwide, at the request of institutions and government agencies. The Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs, the National Committee on Gender and the Bank of Mongolia received training.

The Centre receives funds for projects by collaborating with international organizations, such as the Canada Fund and the Asia Foundation. It also has collaborated with a few domestic organizations, such as the Mongolian Women’s Fund.

There are other organizations in Mongolia that work with gender and sexual minorities as well, such as the Youth Health Center and Youth Lead Mongolia, which focuses on health care issues of communities at risk. There are also other LGBT-friendly spaces that are open to the public, including two bars, a club and a corner in a public library. But there are few other places like the Centre where people of diverse gender identities can meet for mundane, everyday things such as watching movies together.

“The LGBT Centre taught me everything I know, protected me and made my path highlighted beautifully,” Enkhjin says. Now, he is actively helping the Centre and working on helping others.