Kath Khangpiboon has seen many joyful Pride parades abroad. She has watched in Spain and Canada as young people and families joined celebrations under the rainbow flag. Now, she is looking forward to seeing Pride in her city: Bangkok.
“I feel so much pride that an activity like this is happening,” says Kath, who is a lecturer at Thammasat University and a trans activist. Bangkok Naruemit Pride on 5 June – believed to be the first official Pride parade in the Silom area of Thailand’s capital for more than 15 years – comes as the city appoints its new governor, Chadchart Sittipunt, an independent politician who has been vocal in his support for LGBT rights.
Thailand has a vibrant and visible LGBT community, and has fostered a reputation for being a welcoming country, but activists argue the reality is otherwise and that they still lack basic rights.
“If we say Thailand is the heaven of the LGBT community, I would say no. It’s not true, because Thailand still doesn’t have a law or the policy that proves that we exist,” says Ratanon Kuiyoksuy, an activist involved in organising Pride events in Bangkok.
Thailand does not have marriage equality, nor a gender recognition law, which campaigners say affects anything from access to loans to the ability to travel or adopt children.
Discrimination is rife. In schools, trans students are forced to dress according to their sex at birth, including by cutting their hair to the length deemed appropriate for either boys or girls, says Ratanon, who is non-binary. Bullying and unfair treatment is common among teachers, who lack awareness. “I was like a naughty kid in [teachers’] eyes, just because I didn’t fit in, in the Thai education system,” they added.
Prejudice also permeates the workplace, blocking employment opportunities, while LGBT people who try to access healthcare can face humiliating questioning.
Chadchart, who began his term as Bangkok governor this week after a landslide victory, has promised to tackle some of these issues. He has pledged to stop local government staff from being forced to wear uniforms based on their sex at birth, to give training to officials to improve understanding of gender equality, and to implement policies aimed at preventing sexual harassment and assault.
Chadchart has also said he will improve access to healthcare by establishing a pilot project that will give medical advice on issues such as gender affirmation surgery in health centres and hospitals that fall under the local government’s remit.
For activists, it is a sign of hope. “Chadchart will be the first [governor] who will support LGBT issues through his policies,” Kath says.
At a national level, reforms have been thwarted by political upheavals that have stifled democracy, including two military coups in the past 20 years, Kath says.
Kath points to Taiwan, which took steps such as legalising same-sex marriage, despite conservative opposition. “It shows that if Thailand has a government that will be interested in social issues, and if we have a real democratic system … we will develop a lot faster and easier.”
LGBT activists were at the forefront of a recent youth-led pro-democracy movement that called for reforms to the monarchy and for the resignation of the prime minister, Prayuth Chan-ocha, who first came to power in a coup. Young campaigners have described such political demands as aligned with calls for LGBT and gender equality, and protest groups have voiced support for same-sex marriage.
The student rights groups Bad Students has also highlighted cases of discrimination against LGBT students in schools, and shared guidance with young people on what to do if they encounter bullying or unfair treatment.
Alongside the main Pride parade, a Youth Pride event will also be held for students, says Akekawat Pimsawan, co-founder of Queer Riot, who is helping to organising events. As a teenager, they were forced to leave home because their parents did not accept that they were non-binary, and instead encouraged them to undergo so-called “gay therapy”. Progress has been made since then, they add, though “it feels more like tolerance, but not acceptance”.
They hope that pride will provide a space for the LGBT community to celebrate, and send a wider message to society. “It will make our community become stronger, and we will have motivation to fight and move forward,” says Akekawat. “It’s like a bridge that connects us.”
Navaon Siradapuvadol contributed reporting
