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However, in 1989 LGBT activist [[Natee Teerarojjanapongs]] described the situation as more complicated, as although LGBT citizens do not face direct repression from the state, instead "it is a question of subtle negation through invisibility and a lack of social awareness
However, in 1989 LGBT activist [[Natee Teerarojjanapongs]] described the situation as more complicated, as although LGBT citizens do not face direct repression from the state, instead "it is a question of subtle negation through invisibility and a lack of social awareness
about homosexual people", and although people acknowledge the existence of homosexuality, "they are still not used to the idea of openly gay people. Even fewer have any understanding of the notion of lesbian and gay rights.<ref>[http://www.petertatchell.net/international/thailand.htm Peter Tatchell Human Rights]{{deadlink|date=April 2017}}</ref>
about homosexual people", and although people acknowledge the existence of homosexuality, "they are still not used to the idea of openly gay people. Even fewer have any understanding of the notion of lesbian and gay rights.<ref>[http://www.petertatchell.net/international/thailand.htm Peter Tatchell Human Rights] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830064722/http://www.petertatchell.net/international/thailand.htm |date=30 August 2009 }}</ref>


This began to change in the 1990s with more public events, such as LGBT pride festivals that were held every year from 1999 to 2007, until internal disputes within the LGBT community and arguments with the festival's financial backers prevented future events from being held.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalgayz.com/no-gay-pride-in-bangkok-2010/110/|first=Richard|last=Ammon|title=No Gay Pride in Bangkok 2010|website=Global Gayz|accessdate=22 April 2017}}</ref> A parade in the northern city of [[Chiang Mai]] in 2009 stirred such hostility that it had to be canceled. As participants were preparing to march, a local political group surrounded the compound where they had gathered, shouting insults through megaphones and throwing fruit and rocks at the building.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://time.com/12603/thailands-intolerance-of-its-own-lgbt-community-will-surprise-you/ | work=Time | first=Per | last=Liljas | title=Thailand's Intolerance of Its Own LGBT Community Will Surprise You | date=5 March 2014}}</ref>
This began to change in the 1990s with more public events, such as LGBT pride festivals that were held every year from 1999 to 2007, until internal disputes within the LGBT community and arguments with the festival's financial backers prevented future events from being held.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.globalgayz.com/no-gay-pride-in-bangkok-2010/110/|first=Richard|last=Ammon|title=No Gay Pride in Bangkok 2010|website=Global Gayz|accessdate=22 April 2017}}</ref> A parade in the northern city of [[Chiang Mai]] in 2009 stirred such hostility that it had to be canceled. As participants were preparing to march, a local political group surrounded the compound where they had gathered, shouting insults through megaphones and throwing fruit and rocks at the building.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://time.com/12603/thailands-intolerance-of-its-own-lgbt-community-will-surprise-you/ | work=Time | first=Per | last=Liljas | title=Thailand's Intolerance of Its Own LGBT Community Will Surprise You | date=5 March 2014}}</ref>

Revision as of 14:05, 22 April 2017

LGBTQ rights in Thailand Thailand
Thailand
StatusLegal since 1956. Age of consent equalized to 15 in 1997.
Gender identityYes
MilitaryYes, since 2005
Discrimination protectionsYes, since 2015
Family rights
Recognition of relationshipsNo

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in Thailand may face legal challenges not experienced by non-LGBT residents. Both male and female same-sex sexual activity are legal in Thailand, but same-sex couples and households headed by same-sex couples are not eligible for the same legal protections available to opposite-sex couples.

In 2013, The Bangkok Post said that "while Thailand is viewed as a tourist haven for same-sex couples, the reality for locals is that the law, and often public sentiment, is not so liberal."[1] The largest organization campaigning for same-sex marriage is Anjaree.

Private, adult, consensual and non-commercial sodomy was decriminalized in Thailand in 1956.[2] The age of consent was set at fifteen years. However, same-sex attraction and transgenderism were seen as signs of mental illness or defect.

Changes in attitudes and public policy towards LGBT issues began to occur in Thailand during the 1990s and, in particular, the early part of the twenty-first century. In 2002, the Ministry of Health announced that homosexuality would no longer be regarded as a mental illness or disorder.[3] In 2005, the Thai armed forces lifted the ban on LGBT people serving in the military. Prior to this reform, LGBT people were exempted as suffering from a "mental disorder", according to a law of 1954.

In 2007, the Thai government expanded the definition of a sexual assault or rape victim to include both women and men.[4] The government also prohibited marital rape, with the law stipulating that women or men can be victims.[4]

In May 2009, the Thai Red Cross reaffirmed its ban of men who have sex with men (MSM) becoming blood donors, despite campaigns to change this policy.[5]

None of the various Thai constitutions have mentioned sexual orientation or gender identity. Natee Theerarojnapong, of the government's human rights commission, and Anjana Suvarnananda, a lesbian rights advocate, campaigned unsuccessfully for the inclusion of "sexual identity" in the Interim Constitution of 2006 and the Constitution of 2007.[4] The 2007 Constitution does contain a broad prohibition of "unfair discrimination" based on "personal status" and promises to respect various civil liberties in accordance with "state security" and "public morality".

The Gender Equality Act B.E. 2558 was passed on 13 March 2015 and came into force on 9 September 2015.[6] This act banned discrimination according to gender and sexual orientation, and was the first law in Thailand to contain language mentioning homosexuals. Under this law, discrimination against a male, female or "a person who has a sexual expression different from that person’s original sex" is punishable by up to six months in prison and a fine of up to 20,000 baht.[7][8] However, the law specified an exception for "education, religion and the public interest", which was strongly criticised by women's rights groups.[9]

Tolerance for transgender people tends to be highest for television comedians and actors in cabaret shows, based on the traditional practice of Kathoey, for example at the Alcazar Theatre in Pattaya. However, few studies have been carried out regarding the extent of discrimination or equal opportunity in other industries or areas of employment.

Recognition of same-sex couples and family law

Thai law currently does not recognize same-sex marriages, civil unions or domestic partnerships and it is unclear if a same-sex couple or an individual LGBT Thai would be permitted to adopt or have custody of children. Despite the lack of formal legal recognition, Thai same-sex couples tend to be publicly tolerated, especially in the more urban areas such as Bangkok, Phuket or Pattaya.[citation needed]

In September 2011, the government's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), and the Sexual Diversity Network (an NGO) proposed draft legislation on same-sex marriage and sought the Thai government's support for the law.[10][11]

In December 2012, the government formed a committee to draft legislation providing legal recognition for same-sex couples.[12] On 8 February 2013, the Rights and Liberties Protection Department and the Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice and Human Rights held a first public hearing of the civil partnership bill, drafted by the committee's chairman Pol Gen Viroon Phuensaen.[13]

In September 2013, The Bangkok Post reported that an attempt in 2011 by Natee Teerarojjanapong, president of the Gay Political Group of Thailand, to register a marriage certificate with his male partner, had been rejected.[1] He requested the official document from the district office specifying the reason for this rejection, and gave it to NHRC commissioner Tairjing Siriphanich in Bangkok.[1]

By 2014, a same-sex-marriage bill had bipartisan support, but was stalled due to the political crisis in the country.[14] In the second half of 2014, reports emerged that a draft bill called the Civil Partnership Act would be submitted to the junta-appointed Thai Parliament. It would give couples some of the rights of heterosexual marriage, but has been criticized for increasing the minimum age from 17 to 20 and omitting adoption rights.[15]

LGBT life

Thailand had long had a reputation of tolerance when it comes to human sexuality; there are many LGBT nightclubs and bars in the country and the first Thai LGBT magazine began publication in 1983.[citation needed]

However, in 1989 LGBT activist Natee Teerarojjanapongs described the situation as more complicated, as although LGBT citizens do not face direct repression from the state, instead "it is a question of subtle negation through invisibility and a lack of social awareness about homosexual people", and although people acknowledge the existence of homosexuality, "they are still not used to the idea of openly gay people. Even fewer have any understanding of the notion of lesbian and gay rights.[16]

This began to change in the 1990s with more public events, such as LGBT pride festivals that were held every year from 1999 to 2007, until internal disputes within the LGBT community and arguments with the festival's financial backers prevented future events from being held.[17] A parade in the northern city of Chiang Mai in 2009 stirred such hostility that it had to be canceled. As participants were preparing to march, a local political group surrounded the compound where they had gathered, shouting insults through megaphones and throwing fruit and rocks at the building.[18]

LGBT and the media

The entertainment industry accepts us with open arms because we poke fun at ourselves and make people laugh. But if we want to be taken seriously in a field like medicine we are not afforded the same courtesy.——Prempreeda Pramoj Na Ayutthaya, transgender rights activist and programme officer at UNESCO

Since the 1980s, many LGBT-themed publications have been available in Thailand. LGBT characters in Thai films have also been common since the 1970s, often as comic relief, although it was not until the New Wave of Thai cinema in the late 1990s that Thai films began to examine LGBT characters and issues in more depth.

Censorship does not affect LGBT-related media directly, but pornography and sex toys are illegal in Thailand, and pornography charges have been used against LGBT-themed media.[citation needed] Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra launched anti-pornography campaigns, which were often used to seize and otherwise ban LGBT publications, although the government policy since 2007 has been more liberal towards these publications.[citation needed]

Thai LGBT studies

In the 1980s, Australian academic Peter Jackson began to assemble a Thai LGBT history, through magazines and other Thai publications, leading to the creation of the Thai Queer Resource Centre (which Jackson intends to donate to the Australian National University) and LGBT studies conferences.

Trans life in the country

Gender-reassignment operations have been performed in Thailand since 1975, and Thailand is among the most popular destinations globally for patients seeking gender-reassignment operations.[19]

Transsexuals are quite common in Thai popular entertainment, television shows and nightclub performances, however transgender people lack various legal rights compared to the rest of the population,[20][21] and face discrimination from society.[22] An editorial in The Bangkok Post in 2013 noted that "we don't find transgenders as high-ranking officials, doctors, lawyers, scientists, or teachers in state-run schools and colleges. Nor as executives in the corporate world. In short, the doors of government agencies and large corporations are still closed to transgender women."[20]

In 2007, the Thai national assembly debated allowing transgender people to legally change their name after having a sex change operation.[citation needed] However, post-operation male-to-female transsexual government employees are not granted the right to wear female uniforms at work.[23]

In 2013, Bangkok Post said that Jetsada "Note" Taesombat, coordinator of the Thai Transgender Alliance, "believes it is crucial for transgender men and women to be legally recognised as part of society. At present, they are legally identified as their sex at birth. 'Transgender men and women also want the civil partnership law to pass, since gender recognition is the most important issue. To legalise same-sex civil partnerships would mean that we, as people with sexual diversity, can finally be recognised legally. The most important thing for me and for everyone is to be accepted as part of society,' Note says."[1]

A 2014 Bangkok Post article said that a Mayathom 1 [grade school] textbook had been criticized for discrimination and lack of gender sensitivity, because the textbook denoted transgender people as gender confusion—khon long pate,[24] and illustrations in the textbook "feature performances by transgender dancers".[24] The word long "has negative connotations. Transgender or kham pate is more suitable".[24] It was reported that officials at the Ministry of Education would look into the matter.[24]

A 2014 Bangkok Post article said that LGBT people "still face discrimination affecting their social rights and job opportunities", according to a report by US Agency for International Development—and the United States Development Programme".[25] LGBT people "still face difficulty gaining acceptance for non-traditional sexuality, even though the tourism authority has been promoting Thailand as a gay-friendly country",[25] and transgender people "cannot change identity papers, and male-to-female transgender people still have to perform military service".[25] Specific cases of inequality include "a hospital which refused to allow a transsexual to stay in a woman's ward, even though she had undergone sexual reassignment surgery". (The report was "prepared and researched over two years", as part of the project Being LGBT in Asia — a project also undertaken in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Mongolia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.[25])

In 2015, ILO researcher Busakorn Suriyasarn said that even with sufficient educational qualifications, transgender people "are barred access to full-time positions, executive positions or work promotions in both the public and private sectors".[26] “Repeated refusals from employment discourage them from trying to engage in the professional world further. They are often discouraged from entering the job market or the professional world because they have been refused on the basis of their gender identity. "Different treatment in the workplace also cuts their careers short because they cannot withstand daily discrimination and humiliation.” Her "research interviews with transgender people revealed a wide range of harassment — verbal, physical and sexual."[26]

In 2016, Paisarn Likhitpreechakul (board member of Sogi Foundation) said that "many lesbians are subjected to rape in order to "cure" their sexual orientation, often by their own family members -- a subject rarely discussed due to the stigma around rape and lesbianism. A father in Loei confessed to having raped his 14-year-old daughter for four years in order to stop her from socialising with tom. Worse, there is a worrying trend that this so-called corrective rape is being normalised in Thai society through the expression Kae Tom Som Dee or "fixing tom and dee" -- dee are the feminine counterpart to tom. These cases are surely just the tip of an iceberg, as many more murders of Thai LGBTs are brushed aside as crimes of passion, because the concept of "hate crime" doesn't exist in the Thai legal system. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights identified murder, beatings, kidnappings, rape and sexual assault against LGBT people as homophobic and transphobic violence that "constitute a form of gender-based violence, driven by a desire to punish those seen as defying gender norms", and that violence against LGBT people 'tends to be especially vicious compared to other bias-motivated crimes'"[27]

"[T]he policy in Thai prisons for ... years", has been to respect and recognize "sexual diversity, placing inmates in cells based on their stated gender and sexual orientation", according to Bangkok Post Spectrum in 2016.[28] Furthermore, gay male prisoners [like other male prisoneres] have "their head completely shaved"; "Prison policy doesn't allow female inmates to wear make-up, but gay inmates can".[28] Furthermore, "the latest statistics from the Department of Corrections show that ... [the number of prisoners who claim to prison authorities, to be LGBT, is 4,448]—1,804 [of them] are katoey, 352 are gay, 1,247 are Tom, 1,011 are ... [Dee], and 34 are male-to-female transgender".[28]

Summary table

Same-sex sexual activity legal Yes (Since 1956)
Equal age of consent Yes (Since 1997)
Anti-discrimination laws in employment Yes (Since 2015)
Anti-discrimination laws in the provision of goods and services Yes (Since 2015)
Anti-discrimination laws in all other areas (incl. indirect discrimination, hate speech) Yes (Since 2015)
Same-sex marriages No
Recognition of same-sex couples No (Proposed)
Step-child adoption by same-sex couples No
Joint adoption by same-sex couples No
Gays and lesbians allowed to serve openly in the military Yes (Since 2005)
Right to change sex surgically Yes [29]
Right to change legal gender Yes (Since 2007)
Access to IVF for lesbians Yes [30]
Commercial surrogacy for gay male couples No
MSMs allowed to donate blood No

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Chaiyot Yongcharoenchai (8 September 2013). "The two faces of Thai tolerance". The Bangkok Post.
  2. ^ Khan, Shivananda (February 2005). "Assessment of sexual health needs of males who have sex with males in Laos and Thailand" (PDF). Naz Foundation International. (425 KB)
  3. ^ Gay Rights in Thailand 2007 Archived 3 October 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ a b c "Gay Thailand News and Reports 2007". Global Gayz. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  5. ^ "สภากาชาดปรับเกณฑ์ไม่รับเลือดกลุ่มเกย์-คนสำส่อน หวั่นเป็นแหล่งติดเชื้อ". Manager Online. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  6. ^ Royal Gazette: Gender Equality Act B.E. 2558 (in Thai)
  7. ^ Jitcharoenkul, Prangthong (18 May 2016). "Learn about LGBTI, say activists". Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  8. ^ "Thailand's equality laws come into effect". Global Gayz. 10 September 2015. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Thai junta expected to pass Gender Equality bill, strongly opposed by women rights groups". Prachatai English. 22 October 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Commission for marriage rights". Star Observer. 13 September 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  11. ^ "NHRC will support gay marriage rights". The Nation. 5 September 2011. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  12. ^ Leach, Anna (17 December 2012). "Thai government drafting same-sex civil partnership law". Gay Star News. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  13. ^ "Hundreds back civil unions for gay couples". The Bangkok Post. 9 February 2013.
  14. ^ Lee, Steve (10 April 2014). "Thai marriage equality bill unable to proceed due to political crisis". LGBT Weekly. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  15. ^ Mitsunaga, Takato (9 October 2014). "Same-sex marriage may come true under Thai junta". Prachatai English. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  16. ^ Peter Tatchell Human Rights Archived 30 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ Ammon, Richard. "No Gay Pride in Bangkok 2010". Global Gayz. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  18. ^ Liljas, Per (5 March 2014). "Thailand's Intolerance of Its Own LGBT Community Will Surprise You". Time.
  19. ^ Gale, Jason (26 October 2015). "How Thailand became a global gender-change destination". Bloomberg. Retrieved 22 April 2017.
  20. ^ a b "Katoey face closed doors". 14 June 2013.
  21. ^ "Sex, drugs, stigma put Thai transsexuals at HIV risk". Bangkok Post. 23 July 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  22. ^ "Ladyboys lost in legal system". Bangkok Post. 3 February 2013.
  23. ^ "PAO transgender defends wearing skirt". Bangkok Post. 5 July 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2015.
  24. ^ a b c d "Gender labels upset Gene". Bangkok Post. 12 September 2014. p. 12.
  25. ^ a b c d Chananthorn Kamjan (17 September 2014). "Gays still face a battle, report says". p. 4.
  26. ^ a b JITSIREE THONGNOI. "Trapped beneath the transgender glass ceiling". Spectrum, Bangkok Post. Retrieved 7 June 2015.
  27. ^ http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/1009557/we-need-to-fight-homophobia-at-home
  28. ^ a b c http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/special-reports/1151305/a-cell-of-their-own
  29. ^ "Gender Change". Plastic Surgery Phuket. Retrieved 6 November 2015.
  30. ^ "Fertility Clinics". Retrieved 6 November 2015.
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