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2 Mar 2012

Thailand: The truth about tolerance

It's easy to think of Thailand as being very LGBT-friendly with its numerous LGBT-oriented venues, and transgender females and cross-dressers who are regularly seen on TV soap operas and in public but LGBTs have not assimilated well into Thai society, writes a columnist in the Bangkok Post.

Yvonne Bohwongprasert, a feature writer in the Life section of the Bangkok Post, writes in a column on Mar 1, 2012:

Cover of Volume, a mainstream women's fashion magazine that attracts a large gay readership

On the outside, it might seem that gays, transgenders and lesbians have assimilated well into Thai society. However, in reality this is far from true. While I don't fall into any of the aforementioned sexual orientations, I have an uncle who is gay, a nephew who is showing likely signs of being gay and a handful of gay friends who have become a part of my family through years of friendship. From spending time in their circle of friends, I have deduced a genuine need to campaign against homophobia, which can demonstrate its ugly side through various ways. What I have found is not so much outward hostility towards or fear of gay people, but rather social ideologies which stigmatise homosexuality.

Homophobia is unfortunately far from new in this predominantly Buddhist nation. Despite the Buddha's core teachings of compassion, most people opt to treat such individuals with disdain, often making homosexuals and transgenders objects of ridicule in movies, television commercials and daily conversation. They are often labelled as being promiscuous, self-indulgent and deserving of little respect. The holier-than-thou approach of people who feel they are justified in poking fun at gays and lesbians because of the belief that they have supposedly committed sins, particularly adultery I was told, in their past lives is in my opinion the perfect excuse to have a laugh at the expense of someone who has little means of retaliating.

...

Truth be told, Thai-style "tolerance" is only applicable when you stay put in your place and march to the drum of the cultural pecking order. It is a well-known fact that Gay Pride parades in provinces such as Chiang Mai are often not encouraged on the pretext that it will damage their reputable cultural heritage. Marginalising people due to their sexual orientation is taking the country back to the Stone Age. It is pivotal to address LGBT rights, which is an integral part of human rights.

Thailand

Reader's Comments

1. 2012-03-02 15:44  
interesting topic. it would be nice to separate the issue of GBLT issues in Thailand from the commercial sex industry but that seems almost impossible.
Comment #2 was deleted by its author on 2012-03-02 21:26
3. 2012-03-02 21:25  
I agree...seems almost impossible to separate GBLT issues there from the commercial sex industry, but that has tainted the water already. I have said before that this "tolerance" is but a shell. I have been in professional venues there where LBG people objects of ridicule in casual discourse. These are beautiful people overall, but they are pretty near their limit when we, and I mean farangs, come there and carry on in an inappropiate ways with bad manners. Just my observation, nothing more.
4. 2012-03-02 21:26  
sorry about the duplicate...I deleted it.
5. 2012-03-03 07:10  
Overall....I still find Thai society very tolerant of gay/lesbian people.
Yes there are workplace issues with individuals and "regular" straight men and women are always expected to live up to social "ideals" but I am not sure if /how much this is different for gay/lesbians. I speak fluent Thai and am in BKK from time to time but more often in NE Thailand and I just do not hear a lot of negative chatter about gay people or lesbians. Let's face it, trannies are different because they tend to be a bit "outrageous" sometimes in their dress and deportment but they have chosen to be like that so that is their short term "karma."
6. 2012-03-03 11:18  
We need to get our own acts right first. We need to portray that we are one , that we are not promiscuous ,

We must also stand tall and demand the respect from the people around us. The holier-than-thou approach of people who feel they are justified in poking fun at gays and lesbians must stop !

If we amongts our selves cannot even stand united as one - how else can we expect to blend with the mainstream ? We got to get our acts together !!
7. 2012-03-03 18:04  
This does not just happen in Thailand it is similiar in the Philippines as well. I have family and friends who are Gay who get typecast as camp and are only able to do "womens" jobs like nursing.

I find many Phillipino's do not know how to handle a gay person who is generally straight acting and do not fit into thier preconcieved ideas (largely from TV) of what gay people are. I hope in time this will change but with many social changes in the Philippines it is likely to slow and full of pitfalls.

Comment #8 was deleted by its author on 2012-03-03 18:05
9. 2012-03-03 22:15  
I am wondering MichaelAsia (#5) if that is because you are there in a slower pace of life in a less densely populated area up there near Laos, where perhaps they watch less TV anyway. I feel people in a crowded place feel resentment overall, even with the impeccable manners of the Thais, we all just get on each others' nerves. I have not been to Chiang Mai but do people there feel crowded in to each other? Sometimes we don't like being in the sardine can of a big city, often longing for the Hill Country, or some relatively quiet and uncrowded place like Sattahip or Kanchanaburi.

Matahari_gar I agree in principle, but we have to act with respect so we can get it. Everybody gets fun poked at them, so we are no different. A self effacing sense of humor can really disarm the opposition anyway.
10. 2012-03-05 12:27  
Tolerance isn't acceptance. We tolerate flu. Insistence that others acknowledge our lifestyles as equally valid as their own will simply deepen resentment. Nobody can be forced to accept gay people - the best thing we can do is to come out en masse, terrifying though that might be. Moreover, we need to do it as normal human beings - in offices, in family homes, in schools. Sitting on a penis-shaped float in a G-string isn't the way.

Harvey Milk knew that if everyone on earth who was queer came out to their friends, relatives and coworkers, then homophobia would have to be confronted, battled, and defeated forever, rather than be allowed to linger on, in public or in the shadows.

We don't like to push for this option, as we know it will likely bring suffering and pain to both gay people and those around them. But I truly believe it's the only way that true equality, and true acceptance has a hope of being realized. Gays fought - actually FOUGHT - for acceptance in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Why aren't we taking up the fight?
11. 2012-03-06 02:31  
I like what you said, Xpherus, and yet as you indicate there must be some type of recognition in the community as a whole, that we are not going to see acceptance if we keep poking everyone in the eye by doing REALLY DUMB stuff like "...sitting on a penis-shaped float in a G-string..." I have always felt this way, yet when I express it I get labeled as some type of closet case or republican or something. So to be honest I think a lot of the community is confused about whom they should follow....sensible people like yourself with an intellectual approach, or the idiot in the G-string on a penis-shaped float. The latter would lead the world to believe we are nothing but self gratifying morons who think only of who and where the next trick will be. I came out to my own family and they know better. It should be that way with everyone, and support should be rendered to those in fear.
12. 2012-03-07 07:49  
"let a thousand flowers bloom! each in their own way!"
13. 2012-03-09 23:34  
I'm interesting.
I didn't know about Thailand LGBT until now.
14. 2012-03-12 05:27  
As GoodbyeMrA (Post#7) mentioned, being gay/homosexual in Thailand often means "camp" people behaving like the opposite gender from what they are born with, which as we all know is a huge fallacy.
15. 2012-03-12 19:55  
Something that I always find curious. The terms "Gay" and "lesbian". I thought Lesbians were gay. So what is the difference between "Gay" and "Lesbian"? When I look at dictionary, the term "Gay" means term used for a male OR female person.
16. 2012-03-18 12:09  
Homosexual men are 'gay', and homosexual women are 'lesbian'. Bisexual men are.......LUCKY :D

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