The main aim of the conference is to develop linkages between research about Asian LGBTQ cultures and communities and promoting recognition and respect for sexual and gender diversity in the region. A parallel goal of the conference is to support and defend the academic legitimacy of research and teaching about LGBTQ peoples in Asia.

The conference is being coordinated by The Office of Human Rights Studies and Social Development, Mahidol University, Bangkok and The AsiaPacifiQueer Network.

A note about "queer". The conference organisers use the word "queer" in both its current senses; as shorthand for the full diversity of homoerotic, transgender, and transsexual behaviours, identities, and cultures as well as a term describing critical forms of theory that draw on poststructuralist and postcolonial analyses.

In its conferences and publications the AsiaPacifiQueer Network emphasises the need to rethink queer theory in Asian contexts, simultaneously critiquing homophobic discourses and practices in Asia and questioning the eurocentrism of Western accounts of sexuality and gender.