Ms. Joey Joleen Mataele is a pioneering advocate for the rights of LGBTI+ and gender-diverse communities across the Pacific and the Commonwealth, with more than three decades of dedicated activism and organisational leadership.
She is the Chair and Co-Founder of The Commonwealth Equality Network (TCEN), a global civil society network of 72 organisations working to uphold the human rights of LGBTI+ people across all 56 Commonwealth countries. She also serves as Vice Chair and Co-Founder of the Pacific Sexual and Gender Diversity Network (PSGDN), a regional body advancing the rights and visibility of gender-diverse communities across the Pacific.
In 1992, Ms. Mataele co-founded the Tonga Leitis Association (TLA), which she continues to lead as Executive Director. Incorporated under the Tonga Societies Act, TLA is the only registered non-profit organisation in Tonga representing and working with people of diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC). Over more than thirty years, TLA has grown from a community of recognition and solidarity into a leading organisation committed to improving the health, rights, and wellbeing of SOGIESC people in Tonga and across the Pacific region
