The Asia Queer Open 2020 was won by I like it like that (Meabh, Arctic Monkies) in Opening Government, speaking against Don’t stop me now in Opening Opposition (Sam Huang, Daniel Maier Gant), Feeling Myself  (Chris Morillo, Mia Stone-Molloy) in Closing Government; and Laws of Attraction (Gwen Stearns, Pandora’s Boxx) in Closing Opposition. The debate was on the motion “This House Prefers representation of queer characters in media whose stories do not centre around their queerness” and chaired by Brian Wong. Judging with them were Ellen Page, David Benardy, Ploopy, Prashasti Saxena, Rachel Homnick, and Ryan Patrick Thalari.

The Pro Am final was won by with Dancing on My Own (Anonymous, Estelle Novenka Florens) in Opening Government; This is Me (Rebecca Harrigan, Lachlan White) in Opening Opposition, XO (Neo Way De, Aleks Brandon; Unaffiliated) in Closing Government, and Gimme Gimme Gimme (Hannah Gadsby, Nicholas Yu) in Closing Opposition on the motion”This House Supports the rise of atheist movements in Southeast Asia”. The adjudication panel was chaired by Ryan Patrick Thalari. Judging with them were Lena Kolle, Raffy Perez, David Bernardy, and Rachel Homnick.

Best speaker of the tournament was Meabh with an average of 82 speaker points.

Best novice speaker of the tournament was Indya Moore with an average of 79.6.

Best High School speaker of the tournament was Arctic Monkies with an average of 80.2.

Open Break:
1. Laws of Attraction (Gwen Stearns, Pandora Boxx), 13 pts, 813 spks
2. I like it like that (Arctic Monkies, Meabh) 12 pts, 811 spks
3. Don’t Stop Me Now (Sam Huang, Daniel Maier Gant), 11 pts, 803 spks
4. Brave (Indya Moore, Papat “Papi Hotstuff” Lozano), 11 pts, 802 spks
5. Born This Way (Allen Xiao, James Pan), 11 pts, 786 spks
6. I Will Survive (Cara DeLevingne, Jamie Clayton), 10 pts, 800 spks
7. Life is a Highway (Helena Marie, Daan Spackler), 10 pts, 796 spks
8. Feeling Myself (Chris Morrillo, Mia Stone-Molloy) 10 pts, 783 spks
9. I Feel Love (Gian Daquiz, David Bejarin), 10 pts, 782 spks
10. We Are Family (Meehakk Mulani, Towseef Hossain), 10 pts, 777 spks
11. I’m Coming Out (Hadar Goldberg, Katharina Jansen), 9 pts, 808 spks
12. The Origin of Love (Jan Wendale Lota, Wilson Lambiquit), 9 pts, 767 spks
13. I Am What I Am (Reed Herter, Liam Sullivan), 8 pts, 790 spks
14. Y.M.C.A. (George Michael, Adam Lambert), 8 pts, 785 spks
15. Iconic (Aditya Srinivasan, Raghav Sharma) 8 pts, 779 spks
16. Bohemian Rhapsody (Sowmya Srinivasan, Vaishnavi Prasad), 8 pts, 776 spks

Pro-Am Break:
1. Dancing on My Own (Anonymous, Estelle Novenka Florens), 8 pts, 767 spks
2. XO (Rebecca Harrigan, Lachlan White), 7 pts, 784 spks
3. This Is Me (Neo Way De, Aleks Brandon) 7 pts, 773 spks
4. Gimme Gimme Gimme (Hannah Gadsby, Nicholas Yu), 7 pts, 754 spks

Adjudication Break: Brian Wong, Ploopy, Ellen Page, Reese Latonio, Prashasti Saxena, Raffy Perez, Kazi Huq, Jeff Zhong, Rachel Homnick, Namita Pandey, Uphie Abdurrahman, Ryan Patrick Thalari, Lena Kolle, Hadley Parum

Open Speakers Top-10:
1. Meabh, avg 82
2. Pandora Boxx, avg 81.4
3. Gwen Stearns, avg 81.2
4. Hadar Goldberg, avg 81
4. Daniel Maier Gant, avg 81
6. Papat “Papi Hotstuff” Lozano, avg 81
7. Katharina Jansen, avg 80.6
8. Arctic Monkies, avg 80.2
9. Cara Delevingne, avg 80
9. Helena Marie, avg 80
9. Jamie Clayton, avg 80

AQO Queer Forum

Novice Speakers Top-5:
1. Indya Moore, avg 79.6
2. Neo Way De, avg 78.4
3. Gian Daquiz, avg 77.8
4. Lachlan White, avg 77.4
5. Rebecca Harrigan, avg 77.2

High School Speakers Top-3:
1. Arctic Monkies, avg 80.2
2. David Bejarin, avg 78.6
3. Neo Way De, avg 78.4

The tournament was hosted through Yaatly, with 42 teams participating in it. The Zoom livestream of the Open Final is available here. Tab was run by Weston Coleman (Philippines) and the tournament coordinator was Josh Kemp (China). The CA team included Brian Wong and Steph White. Also part of the event was a Queer forum featuring panelists which can be watched here. Tab is available here.

Motions:

R1: Infoslide: Outing is the act of disclosing an LGBT person’s sexual orientation or gender identity without that person’s consent

This House Supports the outing of anti-LGBT+ conservative public figures (eg: politicians, celebrities)

R2:  Assuming Personal Protective Equipment is sufficiently available, This House Believes That medical workers during a pandemic should have the right to opt out of service.

R3: Infoslide: In India, most native individuals believe that Hijras (local transgender individuals) are endowed with the power to curse people. Hijras commonly use their curses as a tool to demand for money, by cursing individuals and requiring a payment for said curses to be lifted.

This House Believes That local queer activists groups should aggressively push for the redefinition of hijras as ordinary individuals with no unique superpower

R4: This House Believes That Bernie Sanders would have been better than Joe Biden as the Democratic Presidential nominee.

R5: This House Rejects the desexualisation of queer activism.

QF: Infoslide: Cancel Culture is the phenomenon of collectively unsubscribing to and deplatforming someone and pushing everyone else to do the same

This House Regrets cancel culture within progressive movements

SF/Pro-Am F: This House Supports the rise of atheist movements in Southeast Asia

F: This House Prefers representation of queer characters in media whose stories do not centre around their queerness