Time to bring gay rights in Thailand out of the closet
Widespread ignorance and prejudice has to be acknowledged then tackled with a programme of education
In Bangkok recently, an academic seminar on human rights in Southeast Asia revealed that 70 per cent of transgenders in the region ended up working in the sex trade. In the Philippines, it is extremely difficult for homosexuals to find “normal” jobs, while their counterparts in countries like Malaysia face assault and even rape and get little protection from Shariah law, which actively discriminates against them.
Just how far this issue is from being addressed in a democratic and dignified way was underlined at the seminar when a transgender speaker asked the audience if they knew the proper definition of “transgender”. The room full of human rights activists and scholars found it difficult to provide an answer.
Ignorance on the subject is prevalent in Southeast Asia, Thailand included, and transgenders face everyday difficulties and discrimination over issues that span which set of public toilets they are permitted to use, to immigration officers confused by their looks and thus challenging their legal gender status.
Education can play a key role in battling this ignorance and Thailand should review and revise its curriculum in order to fill the gaps regarding this issue. Offices such as the National Human Rights Commission or the Department of Human Rights and Liberty Promotion under the Justice Ministry should take up the task. They could conduct research to come up with recommendations on how to improve school texts and teaching in this regard.
Next, the issue of lack of equality and equal opportunities must be taken seriously; a nationwide campaign to highlight the issue and promote justice for the gay and transgender communities would be a good start. If the Thai Research Fund or NGOs set aside funds for studies into the nature of and reasons for discrimination, the government would be pressured into placing it higher on the national agenda.
Only through awareness of how many are discriminated against, and in what way, will the problems be lessened and solutions devised. Though Thailand may be more open on this issue than most other Asian societies, there is no denying that much more should and can be done.
Gays, lesbians and transgenders are still being mocked as freaks of nature in the mainstream media, and their supposed “abnormality” highlighted. This brings us to the issue of the lack of sensitivity in reporting news relating to gays, lesbians or transgenders. Tabloid newspapers, for example, often jump on the fact that a criminal or murderer happens to be gay, as if his sexual orientation were abnormal and therefore made him prone to abnormal behaviour and crime. Such ignorant sensationalism fuels prejudice against the gay community. In this regard, professional journalists’ associations and journalism schools should spend more time and attention addressing the matter to ensure that so-called third- and fourth-genders are not doubly discriminated against in their representation by the mass media.
There is no denying that openly gay public figures have made important contributions working in the higher echelons of Thai society. Meanwhile, however, their poorer counterparts continue to struggle through an obstacle course of discrimination in their daily lives. This is a reminder that poverty, or more specifically the lack of education it brings, creates an environment in which age-old gender stereotypes and prejudices against gay, lesbians and transgenders are less likely to be challenged. In the end, then, this issue cannot be fully addressed without considering related factors of wider social injustice and the income gap.
By forging a clear conviction and commitment, Thailand could make visible progress on this issue in the next few years rather than decades.
Commitment, however, seems in short supply among politicians. It is therefore up to those of us who care about a free and fair society to ring the alarm bell and call attention to the everyday prejudice that blights the lives of gay and transgender individuals.
Bron: The Nation 02-11-2010