Tag: thailand

Thailand’s Intolerance of Its Own LGBT Community Will Surprise You

The Land of Smiles is a gay-friendly playground of brazen lady boys and sexual license, right? Well, not quite… Written by Per Liljas for Time Magazine. Thailand likes to project itself as an oasis of tolerance in a continent where roughly half of the countries outlaw homosexuality. It is one of only seven Asian signatories… Read more »

The two faces of Thai tolerance

Thailand’s Bangkok Post last week highlighted that while the country’s tourism authorities are trying to market Thailand as a gay-friendly destination urging gay visitors to “Go Thai. Be free”, local LGBT activists say the campaign disguises a darker reality that beneath the veneer of public tolerance, conservatism and discrimination remain rife. In an investigative report… Read more »

How Thailand and Vietnam are moving on same-sex ‘marriage’

What exactly is happening in Thailand and Vietnam on law reform to recognize gay and lesbian relationships? Doug Sanders reports from Bangkok and Hanoi While the focus has been on gay marriage in the West, same-sex partnership rights have also been on the move in South East Asia. We examine progress in Thailand and Vietnam,… Read more »

On the road to legalising same-sex relationships: Thailand and Vietnam

What exactly is happening in Thailand and Vietnam on law reform to recognise same-sex relationships? Doug Sanders, back home in Thailand from two weeks in Hanoi, reports. Thailand In the fall of 2012, the issue of legal recognition for same-sex relationships was taken up by the Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice and Human Rights of… Read more »

Thai university introduces two LGBT courses, a first in the ASEAN region

One of the top three universities in Thailand has introduced two LGBT courses, a breakthrough in the country and the region. Doug Sanders reports from Bangkok. On Saturday, July 6, around ten students met for the first time in the credit course “Voice of LGBT” in the graduate program in Women’s Studies at Thammasat University… Read more »

Fifty shades of pink

Some countries consider gay marriage, but elsewhere attitudes harden On the last Saturday in June the centre of Singapore’s very sober business district turned distinctly pink. Lesbians, gay men and others converged there for the annual celebration of what organisers call the “Freedom to Love”, also known as the “Pink Dot”, in honour of the… Read more »

HIV and Syphilis Infection Among Men Who Have Sex with Men — Bangkok, Thailand, 2005–2011

Although efforts to control the heterosexual human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) epidemic in Thailand had shown success by the late 1990s (1), HIV continued to spread in other risk groups, including men who have sex with men (MSM). In 2003, the Thailand Ministry of Public Health–U.S. CDC Collaboration (TUC) started surveillance among MSM in Bangkok, finding… Read more »

Same-sex union bill no cause for celebration The Nation

Bangkok – Lesbians, gays and others seek equal treatment under the law, not special favours and condescension The recent move by the Parliamentary Commission on Law, Justice and Human Rights to legalise same-sex relationships came as a pleasant surprise to the local community of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and intersex persons (LGBTIs). Three leading LGBTI… Read more »

LGBT Thai teens forced to become monks by parents to turn them straight

Homophobic Thai parents have been forcing their LGBT children to become monks but they are taking to social media to assert their identity LGBT teens are being forced to become monks by homophobic Buddhist Thai parents but are taking to social media to express their identities according to the Bankok Post. 28 year-old Deer, who… Read more »

Overlooked, ignored, forgotten? No longer: Groups call for an end to transphobia in Asia Pacific

Bangkok, Thailand – “HIV remains a serious threat to transgender people worldwide,” states a new policy brief, Overlooked, Ignored, Forgotten: HIV and Basic Rights of Transgender People in Asia and the Pacific. For Asia and the Pacific, HIV rates among transgender people are disturbingly high, ranging from 49% in Delhi, India to 11% in Bangkok,… Read more »

Same-sex union bill no cause for celebration–Editorial

Lesbians, gays and others seek equal treatment under the law, not special favours and condescension Bangkok, Thailand – The recent move by the Parliamentary Commission on Law, Justice and Human Rights to legalise same-sex relationships came as a pleasant surprise to the local community of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders and intersex persons (LGBTIs). Three leading… Read more »

Thai media features same-sex couples as parliament considers civil unions

As public hearings are underway before the bill will be proposed to parliament for debate, the English-language local media appears to be covering the issue positively with interviews with same-sex couples who speak about the discrimination they currently face and their hopes for the future. In February, Asia City’s BK Magazine profiled four couples in… Read more »

Largest ever LGBTI conference in Asia elects new representatives and chooses Taiwan for next conference in 2015

Thailand – The 5th ILGA-Asia conference with the theme “The Phoenix Rising” held March 29-31st 2013 has seen the biggest attendance ever of LGBTI activists in a conference in the region. Over 250 delegates from some 25 countries attended the event, joined by a numerous and enthusiastic team of Thai volunteers who were on rotation… Read more »

Building On The Past, Looking To The Future: APCOM Re-Launched

New leadership, new branding and a new website underscore renewed commitment to the regional MSM HIV cause Bangkok, Thailand: On the eve of its sixth birthday, the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual (APCOM) with new leadership and expanded constituencies is urging all coalition partners to renew efforts to ensure access to social, health and… Read more »

Thailand holds public hearings to consider civil union bill

The Rights and Liberties Protection Department and the House committee on Legal Affairs, Justice, and Human Rights have held the first of a series of public hearings to consider civil unions that would allow same-sex couples equal marriage rights. More than 200 people on Friday attended the first public hearing held to discuss the possibility… Read more »

A lesbian perspective on Thailand

Gay Star News interviews the founder of the first LGBT rights group in Thailand In most developing countries, gay men form LGBT rights groups first, encouraged by HIV and AIDS prevention funding. Thailand is unusual in that the first LGBT rights group, Anjaree, was formed by lesbians in 1987. Anjana Suvarnananda, one of the founders… Read more »

Thai government drafting same-sex civil partnership law

The government in Thailand has formed a committee with policy advisors and LGBT rights advocates to draft legal recognition for same-sex couples The Thai government has formed a committee to draft legislation on civil-partnership law for same-sex couples. One of the committee members, Anjana Suvarnananda of LGBT rights group Anjaree told Gay Star News that… Read more »

Transgender couple in Thailand speak

A touching video about a Thai opposite-gender couple who both happen to be trans The Bangkok post has made a touching video about a loving couple who both happen to be transgender. Trans woman Sittichai ‘Pond’ Suafug and trans man Benhamaporn ‘Ben’ Rotjutakul met five years ago and on Valentine’s Day this year Ben proposed.… Read more »