Ymania Brown

Brown was born on 11 September 1963 She began identifying as a girl at age three, which her mother was supportive of, but her father was resistant to. Her mother left the family when she was nine, in response to domestic violence exacerbated by her father's alcoholism. In the late 1990s she returned to Sydney, where she found a corporate job for a software company through one of her university lecturers. She chose to become a full-time activist during the COVID-19 pandemic. == Activism ==

Brown served as Executive Director of TGEU (from July 2024 until her death), as co-secretary general of ILGA World (from March 2019 until November 2024), She also worked as technical director of the Samoa Fa'afafine Association (from at least June 2013) and with Sydney World Pride through Equality Australia. Brown was involved with campaigns to have the Samoan government recognise adoption by LGBT individuals and to repeal laws that criminalised "impersonation of a woman". She also encouraged Australia to focus on LGBT rights as part of their foreign policy. She served as a matai across four districts in Samoa. == Personal life and death ==

Brown identified as both a trans woman and as faʻafafine. Brown died on 15 September 2025, aged 62, at the Charité's German Heart Center in Berlin, Germany, from medical complications following a planned heart surgery. == Recognition and awards ==

• Shivananda Khan Award for Extraordinary Achievement, 2020 Asia Pacific HERO Awards, APCOM Foundation == References ==