Fridae

Thailand has two major English language newspapers, the Bangkok Post and the Nation. There are a number of Thai-language newspapers, but Thai elites, I am told, will read one of the English language papers, probably the Bangkok Post, perhaps along with a Thai-language paper.

The Post and the Nation are not the kind of small circulation English-language papers aimed at expats and outsiders that we see in Indonesia, South Korea, Japan and China. Their customers are mainly Thai people.

A recent Bangkok Post coverage of LGBT activists holding a protest
in front of Government House to demand an explanation on why
Thailand has failed to support the United Nation’s condemnation
of extrajudicial killings based on sexual orientation. Click to view.

It seems generally true that these English language newspapers – in countries were English is not a significant language for public media – are more liberal than local language publications. China Daily, for example, has run a number of very gay friendly stories, that I assume are not typical of media aimed at the Chinese public. 

While many Thai-language newspapers tend to in tabloid style, headlining sex and crime, the Post and the Nation are liberal western-style papers, with most news stories coming straight from Western wire services, like AP and Reuters. 

The Nation, which has lost money for a number of years, pioneered explicitly gay reporting. For years there has been a weekly column by a gay-identified Thai man. A couple of years ago he moved from a pseudonym to using his own name and a personal e-mail address for feedback. For a while there was a dedicated Friday gay page. The column continues. Gay and lesbian coverage is actually more mainstream in the paper these days, sometimes appearing in op-ed opinion pieces and even in editorials. 

The Bangkok Post, the largest circulation English language paper, has just consolidated its various lifestyle sections into one Monday to Friday package, simply called Life. On Thursday, February 3rd, we got the first dedicated page for “Queer Eye” with a lead introduction by Yanapon Musiket, a Post writer who has usually covered gender issues. We are promised this will be a monthly event. 

The page, like much of the Bangkok Post as a whole, is mainly about the West. One box has a story about current US media – films, music, television – taken from the annual US gay media awards. A second box is about Tom Ford, fashion designer and film maker. A third is about the upcoming launch of a Thai edition of the British gay magazine Attitude. A fourth story is about US activists discussing religion. 

The lead column, however, is an introduction and overview by Yanapon Musiket under the title “Celebrating a diverse society,” with a subtitle “Gender-bending culture makes Thailand a Unique Place.” The picture is of a famous kathoey, Thanyarat “Film” Jiraphatpakorn, a winner of the annual Miss Tiffany transgender crown. She is shown holding her statuette, smiling between two runners-up. Kathoey glamour symbolises queer Thailand. 

The column begins by reminding us that last week’s big story was about the hiring of three kathoey flight attendants, including Thanyarat, by the new charter airline, PC Air. The story went around the world. 

“There is something about Thailand and its tolerance of homosexuality and transgenderism that puts our Kingdom in the spotlight,” the column reads.

The column refers back to many instances in the past when the Bangkok Post has covered issues of gender diversity. But those, the columnist comments, were always cast as “social issues.” Now the “Queer Eye” page will turn a new leaf and focus on the “fun” of these lifestyles and show “queer culture” as part of culture in general. The column promises. 

“…one-of-a-kind stories about local and international lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender scenes, and how they turn this world around like their favourite disco ball.” 

Douglas Sanders is a retired Canadian law professor, living in Thailand. He can be contacted at sanders_gwb@yahoo.ca.