Tuisina Ymania Brown-Gabriel, better known as Ymania Brown (born 1962/1963),[1] is a Samoan LGBT rights activist and lawyer based in Brisbane, Australia.[2]

Life

Brown grew up in Samoa.[3] She began identifying as a girl at age three, which her mother was supportive of, but her father was resistant to.[1] Her mother left the family when she was nine, in response to domestic violence exacerbated by her father's alcoholism.[3] She helped to raise her younger sibling after her mother left.[3] One of her father's cousins moved in with the family, and he sexually abused Brown for multiple years. She left Samoa to join her mother and stepfather in New Zealand.[3]

Brown has worked for the New Zealand government.[3] She later moved to Australia, but struggled to find any other jobs due to discrimination based on her gender identity.[3] She became homeless, and worked as a sex worker in Sydney in order to survive.[3] She was able to save enough money to have gender-affirming surgery in 1989.[3]

After her surgery, Brown moved to Europe and worked as a model.[3] A few years later, she returned to New Zealand to attend college.[3] In the late 1990s she returned to Sydney, where she found a corporate job for a software company through one of her university lecturers.[3] First working in human resources and later becoming in-house legal counsel, Brown continued to work in a corporate setting in Sydney for the next twenty years.[2] She chose to become a full-time activist during the COVID-19 pandemic.[4]

Activism

Brown currently serves both as co-secretary general of ILGA World (since March 2019), on the advisory board of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice, and as technical director of the Samoa Fa’afafine Association.[2][3][5] She has also worked with Sydney World Pride through Equality Australia.[2][3]

In 2014 Brown acted as the co-chair of ILGA Oceania.[3] She later became co-chair of the Global Interfaith Network for People of All Sexes, Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (GINSSOGIE) and the International Trans Fund.[3]

Brown was involved with campaigns to have the Samoan government recognize adoption by LGBT individuals and to repeal laws that criminalized “impersonation of a woman”.[3][5] Her advocacy has primarily focused more on financial equality than marriage equality.[6] She has also encouraged Australia to focus on LGBT rights as part of their foreign policy.[7]

Personal life

Brown identifies as both a trans woman and as fa’afafine.[3] She has two sons, whom she adopted from a previous partner living in Samoa.[1][3] She is Catholic.[8]

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Miss Fa'afafine: Behind Samoa's 'third gender' beauty pageant". BBC News. 2016-09-01. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Ymania Brown, Strategic Advisor - Sydney WorldPride and Operations (She/Her)". Equality Australia. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 "An extraordinary story of diversity and inclusion: In-house counsel & advocate Ymania Brown". www.collaw.edu.au. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  4. ↑ "Champions of Pride 2021 From the Territories". www.advocate.com. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  5. 1 2 "Tuisina Ymania Brown". Peace Post. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  6. ↑ "Jobs more important than marriage to Samoa's fa'afafine". www.samoanews.com. 2018-09-05. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  7. ↑ Knott, Matthew (2023-02-19). "Australia can be LGBTQI rights champion in Asia-Pacific". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  8. ↑ "Before Speaking at UN, LGBTI People and Advocates Gather at the Garrison Institute |". www.garrisoninstitute.org. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
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