Culture Ministry is confused about gays
Tuesday, June 08, 2004
Homosexuals do not necessarily indulge in what the Culture Ministry describes as 'homosexual behaviour' according to Paisarn Likhitpreechakul, a freelance writer in an opinion piece in The Nation today.
According tp Khun Paisarn, "the ministry is showing multiple levels of ignorance about homosexuality. Not very long ago, the Department of Mental Health made a clear statement that homosexuality is a normal, natural form of human sexuality and gay people are not 'deviants', echoing what the World Health Organisation and international health community have emphasised for decades."
"Not only did the ministry fail to note this, it also fell short of making distinctions between gay people and what it perceives as 'homosexual behaviour'. Many gay people do not display such unrestrained behaviour as the ministry described. In fact, most of such behaviour on television is played by heterosexual actors. By branding such behaviour 'homosexual', the ban will end up victimising gay people rather than discouraging certain acts as it intends."
He continued "the responsibility lies with Thai society to debate how much liberty can be sacrificed in exchange for the ministry's imposed 'cultural order'." And it was now up to the gay community in Thailand to "take up the battle against homophobia."
The full text of the article is available on The Nation website.
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