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According to an article published today in The Nation, the Thai Culture Ministry will next week ask all television stations to cut down on images portraying homosexual behaviour, according to a senior ministry official. TV producers say they will comply with Culture Ministry's request. The article was a followup to articles in the Thai language press yesterday reporting that homosexuals would be banned from working in the Culture Ministry.

The article quoted Dr Kla Somtrakul, a deputy permanent secretary for Culture, as saying some television programmes clearly showed homosexual behaviour and if unchecked some of them could cross the line to obscenity. He said the ministry would send a letter requesting television stations not to air "sexually deviant" homosexual messages but leave the final decision to the stations' own judgement.

Kla said the ministry is concerned about the effects on society of programming featuring gays.

"Many parents told me that they are worried that their children would have sexually deviant behaviour after viewing such behaviours on TV," he said.

The article also quoted some TV producers and actors who played down the ministry's concerns.

"There is a third sex in the world and TV shows merely reflect reality," said Yutthana Lophanpaibul, an out-the-closet gay director. "Maybe there are too many male comedians dressing in women's costumes. If so, then they should cut them down."

Yutthana said he did not believe that television would arouse "sexual deviation" among youths because homosexuals were what they were because of hormones or different sexual tastes.

Itthipat Rattanapanu, a producer from RS Promotion Ltd, said cutting all programmes with homosexual people was impossible because it would ruin the flavour of the programmes, but he would try.

"I do not believe that viewers would copy what they see on TV," he said, adding that the homosexual roles were there to spice up the dramas, not to convince people to copy them.

Piya Sawetpikul, a gay actor, said sexual orientation depended on how a child was raised.

And Dr Taveesilpa Wisanuyothin, spokesman for the Mental Health Department was quoted as saying that the cause of homosexuality possibly results from an abnormal state during pregnancy due to hormones and chemistry in brain. Watching homosexual behaviour on television could spur people with homosexual tendencies to act on their urges, he said.

In related news, Kla denied saying that he would bar homosexuals from working at the Ministry of Culture.

"I have no intention to stop homosexual persons from being recruited by the ministry like many Thai newspapers said because there is no such rule and they do not cause great damage to society," Kla said.

Although there are no rules prohibiting homosexuals from working at the ministry, they had to be careful about expressing themselves as the ministry is the country's cultural watchdog, said Anurak Jureemas, the Minister of Culture. He said individuals have the right to express themselves, but they must also respect the rules of society.

The full text of article (and reader comments)is available on the Nation web site.