Two months ago, Alina Rastam and Shanon Shah wrote and disseminated a Letter to the Editor entitled “Don’t Let Homophobia
Undermine Human Rights”. We are pleased to report to you that they managed to get more than 140 individual signatures and 2
organizational endorsements within 24 hours of writing the letter. Even after submission to the media, they kept getting signatures. The
letter eventually carried more than 200 signatures.

The letter was carried by Malaysiakini the very next day. It was also really encouraging that there were several other letters written in
defense of sexuality rights, written by Malaysians, published in both the independent and government-linked press, like The Star.

It is therefore felt that it was only logical to expand the framework of the letter into a full-blown petition, calling for unconditional
respect of sexuality rights for all who live in Malaysia.

Please sign onto the petition, and call on all your friends and networks to sign on as well. 

Our aim is simple - to get Malaysians from all walks of life, who abhor all kinds of discrimination on the basis of sexuality and sexual
identity, to have a space to take a public stand in solidarity with each other. The issue of sexuality is being used as bait by the State,
the leading political parties and several discriminatory organizations. As we approach Merdeka and Malaysia Day celebrations on
31 August and 16 September, it is important for us to stress that we respect all kinds of diversity in Malaysia, from racial, to religious,
to political, to sexual. If you believe and want to affirm this, please give this petition your full support. It’s about time we had
our voices heard.

We do make one initial request though. This petition is an open petition. Anyone from anywhere in the world can sign if they support
it. But, we’d like to especially focus on getting signatures from our fellow Malaysians first. As citizens of a country where freedom of
expression and information is curtailed in so many areas - from the environment, to violence against women, to political participation -
it is imperative that we show each other support and encouragement by making this a Malaysian-led initiative. We welcome solidarity from
around the world, but we hope this point is understood in the best light.

Thank you for your support, and semoga kita sama-sama membina Malaysia yang menghormati hak dan maruah kita semua!

Sign the petition at: http://www.petitiononline.com/psrmsia/petition.html