While in the Middle East and Europe and America members of the LGBT community face legal barriers and a seemingly insurmountable fight with systems that lack fundamental toleration of their lifestyle; in Thailand restrictions on being "gay" or "transsexual" are limited by family custom and not so much by society:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Thailand
http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/08/081005thaiArmy.htm
Thailand OKs Gay, Transsexual Soldiers
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: August 10, 2005 1:00 pm ET
(Bangkok) Thailand on Wednesday removed restrictions on gays and transsexuals serving in the military.
Thailand has a draft but gays and transsexuals have been barred from serving under the "mental disorder" exemption.
All Thai men at the age of 20 are required by law to register to serve. Recruits are selected through a lottery system, but each year thousands of LGBT draftees are rejected.
Wednesday the military announced that it was removing homosexuality and transgenderism from its list of mental disorders following years of complaints from the LGBT community that the ban was discriminatory.
The military said that the change was part of a program to keep up with a changing society.
"The existing conscription law has been promulgated since 1954, when there were few homosexuals and transvestites, but society is changing very fast, so the army is in the process of amending the law and omitting those words from the certificate," said Lt. Gen. Arthorn Lohitkul, director general of the Army Reserve Command.
The campaign to amend the requirements for conscription was launched by LGBT civil activist Natee Theerarojnaphong.
"No employer wants to hire anyone with a record of mental disorder to work in his company," Natee said, adding that people with mental disorders are also unable to make certain legal agreements.
A celebrity Thai-style kickboxer who underwent surgery to become a woman, Parinya Charoenphol, complained on local television after being exempt from the military.
"The words 'mental disorder' marked on the certificate seriously affects our lives," said Parinya. Thailand is a Buddhist country where homosexuals, transvestites and transsexuals are largely tolerated. Gay and transvestite actors play key roles in Thai movies and television soap operas.
The change was hailed in the US by gays fighting for inclusion in the military.
"Neither sexual orientation nor gender identity has any impact on a service member's ability to get the job done," Steve Ralls, a spokesperson for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network told 365Gay.com
"The United States armed forces should follow the Thai military's example and place qualification above prejudice. Our armed forces should end to the military’s unfair discrimination against lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender military personnel.”
A bill is pending in Congress to repeal the military's ban and allow lesbian and gay Americans the opportunity to serve openly.
A study done by the Government Accountability Office shows that more than 10,000 service members have been discharged over the last 10 years under "don't ask, don't tell".
In contrast you can see the work of LGBT activist and former military officer Calpernia Addams at her website here: http://www.calpernia.com/soldiers-girl/ or the problems encountered at Poland's "Gay HR," http://www.gay.hr/portal/opsirno-4270.php both with our general Peter Pace and their own struggles.
The only question I have is that why a society tolerant of transsexuals is not tolerant of people with some record of having a mental disorder, and if Thai Buddhists are not tolerant I can only imagine the stigma the mentally ill must face in the United States or the EU. It raises disturbing questions in a society where virtually everyone is depressed and "ill." In a book I read last week called Societal Problems in Contemporary Thailand it was estimated that up to 25% of the people living in Bangkok are mentally unstable or ill, though many would never be labelled as such.
Can you imagine being a transsexual solider in the United States with PTSD, the stigma must be very difficult to bear indeed. I wonder if the VA even helps keep records of these brave veterans. At least you are not dead or stoned or arrested as in the Middle East.
Enough said.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_Thailand
http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/08/081005thaiArmy.htm
Thailand OKs Gay, Transsexual Soldiers
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: August 10, 2005 1:00 pm ET
(Bangkok) Thailand on Wednesday removed restrictions on gays and transsexuals serving in the military.
Thailand has a draft but gays and transsexuals have been barred from serving under the "mental disorder" exemption.
All Thai men at the age of 20 are required by law to register to serve. Recruits are selected through a lottery system, but each year thousands of LGBT draftees are rejected.
Wednesday the military announced that it was removing homosexuality and transgenderism from its list of mental disorders following years of complaints from the LGBT community that the ban was discriminatory.
The military said that the change was part of a program to keep up with a changing society.
"The existing conscription law has been promulgated since 1954, when there were few homosexuals and transvestites, but society is changing very fast, so the army is in the process of amending the law and omitting those words from the certificate," said Lt. Gen. Arthorn Lohitkul, director general of the Army Reserve Command.
The campaign to amend the requirements for conscription was launched by LGBT civil activist Natee Theerarojnaphong.
"No employer wants to hire anyone with a record of mental disorder to work in his company," Natee said, adding that people with mental disorders are also unable to make certain legal agreements.
A celebrity Thai-style kickboxer who underwent surgery to become a woman, Parinya Charoenphol, complained on local television after being exempt from the military.
"The words 'mental disorder' marked on the certificate seriously affects our lives," said Parinya. Thailand is a Buddhist country where homosexuals, transvestites and transsexuals are largely tolerated. Gay and transvestite actors play key roles in Thai movies and television soap operas.
The change was hailed in the US by gays fighting for inclusion in the military.
"Neither sexual orientation nor gender identity has any impact on a service member's ability to get the job done," Steve Ralls, a spokesperson for the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network told 365Gay.com
"The United States armed forces should follow the Thai military's example and place qualification above prejudice. Our armed forces should end to the military’s unfair discrimination against lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender military personnel.”
A bill is pending in Congress to repeal the military's ban and allow lesbian and gay Americans the opportunity to serve openly.
A study done by the Government Accountability Office shows that more than 10,000 service members have been discharged over the last 10 years under "don't ask, don't tell".
In contrast you can see the work of LGBT activist and former military officer Calpernia Addams at her website here: http://www.calpernia.com/soldiers-girl/ or the problems encountered at Poland's "Gay HR," http://www.gay.hr/portal/opsirno-4270.php both with our general Peter Pace and their own struggles.
The only question I have is that why a society tolerant of transsexuals is not tolerant of people with some record of having a mental disorder, and if Thai Buddhists are not tolerant I can only imagine the stigma the mentally ill must face in the United States or the EU. It raises disturbing questions in a society where virtually everyone is depressed and "ill." In a book I read last week called Societal Problems in Contemporary Thailand it was estimated that up to 25% of the people living in Bangkok are mentally unstable or ill, though many would never be labelled as such.
Can you imagine being a transsexual solider in the United States with PTSD, the stigma must be very difficult to bear indeed. I wonder if the VA even helps keep records of these brave veterans. At least you are not dead or stoned or arrested as in the Middle East.
Enough said.
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