Date: Mon, 28 Nov 1994 10:08:28 -0500 (GMT-0500) From: "Thomas W. Holt Jr." Subject: Thailand the Gay Heaven? (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 27 Nov 1994 22:11:03 -0500 From: Dionisio To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS Subject: Thailand the Gay Heaven? (fwd) This may look awefully similar to a story posted previously, but once past the first few paragraphs, new information is presented. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Newsgroups: bit.listserv.gaynet Date: 26 Nov 94 16:48:00 EST Subject: Thailand the Gay Heaven? From: anon@queernet.org BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Nestled in the lush mountains of central Thailand, a luxury town of karaoke bars, cafes, health clubs, swimming pools and massage parlors is being built for 2,000 gay men. The world's first all-gay village is being promoted in a slick brochure with glossy pictures of handsome men dancing close, resting their heads on each other's laps beside a swimming pool and gazing romantically over the mountains with their arms around each other. With 70 percent of the 800 luxury homes already sold, the $32 million project is to open next year as Flower Town. And not a single protest has been lodged. "In other countries, gays have to fight for what they need," says project owner Dejdeow Srichai, a 33-year-old homosexual. "But in Thailand, gays can do everything." Indeed, gays are widely tolerated here. They are called "flowers" because, as Dejdeow says, gays are "clean, lovely, fresh, beautiful and refined." They make no attempt to hide their feminine mannerisms, whether they perform as waitresses and salesmen, or even in such high-profile jobs as businessmen and professors. Seri Wongmonta, one of Thailand's most outspoken gays, confirms that while there is some pressure on those in politics and the military to be more discreet about their homosexuality, there is no social pressure here against being gay. And thus, he says, no need for a gay movement. Seri works for advertising and public relations firms, as a marketing consultant, professor, radio and television host, and columnist. "I've been accepted in all these fields," he says. "They don't mind me being what I am. "I was not that open," while living in the United States in recent years, he says. "In America, when you are too open, people reject you." In Thailand, he says, gays are more likely to be pitied. The devoutly Buddhist Thais believe people are homosexuals, lesbians, transvestites or heterosexuals because of their karma. They generally don't judge them for being different but attribute it to actions in their past lives. It is simply their fate. Even with AIDS reaching epidemic proportions in parts of Thailand, there has been no backlash against gays who often bear the brunt of the blame for the fatal disease in other countries. Kongsak Boonyamwong, an effusively effeminate cashier at a major department store, says he had no trouble getting a job in Thailand despite his behavior and looks. He wears his black, shiny hair just below his ears and brushes powder across his cheeks and black pencil over his arched eyebrows before going to work. "I never try to hide," says the girlish-looking 24-year-old. "I like to act like a woman. I like to have long hair. I like to walk like a woman. I have practiced for a long time until it comes naturally." Nobody appears to object. "I don't care about being served by gays," says Paweenaa Rodmanee, an 18-year-old university student just outside the store. "They are the same as me -- human." Transvestite beauty contests are held at village fairs and major festivals, where they are taken very seriously. And gays, lesbians and transvestites are common in Thai soap operas, with the sexual orientation of the actors or actresses often having no direct bearing on the plot. "I wanted to be a woman since kindergarten," says Chanchai Triwachirangkoon, a 21-year-old cabaret dancer. "My parents said to me, 'Whatever you want to be -- a man or a woman -- go ahead. Just be a good person."' He had breast-implant surgery several months ago and is planning another sex-change operation in the coming months. "In Thailand, so many men want to be women," he says. "It's fashionable." Wanlop Piyamanotham, a lecturer on sex at Srinakharinwirot University, says that is because they are treated well by everyone. Thai men like gays because they don't have to compete with them for women and Thai women like them because they are less domineering than typical Thai men and show more respect for women. He says a study of gays in Thailand several years ago established there were more than 1 million homosexuals in a country of about 60 million people -- which he says is one of the highest rates in the world. Sarawut Thammee, a graceful, 25-year-old with smooth skin and long, black hair, has larger features than most Thai women but, nevertheless it would be hard to recognize him as a man. He has pierced ears, wears lace bras and panties, and otherwise dresses like a woman. Sarawut even goes so far as to use women's restrooms, noting that, "No one pays much attention." Sarawut, who likes to be called Sue, has taken hormones to develop his tiny breasts and shapely hips so that on-stage as a cabaret dancer, in his skimpy gold-sequined outfit and high-heels, he is a knockout. Sarawut says that every time his father is in Bangkok, he comes to see his son slink around the stage as a woman to a house full of tourists. There are, of course, some adults who say they wouldn't want their sons to be gay, transsexual or transvestites, or their daughters to be lesbians. But many of them insist they would accept it if their children refused to be straight. "If my son couldn't agree to stay as a man, I would have to accept that," says Wasan Thassanakrn, a 35-year-old office worker. That tolerance is what Dejdeow is banking on to make his Flower Town a success. The project has attracted inquiries from gays across the country and around the world. He is busy these days picking through the stack of applications to screen out the most clean-cut, good-looking, courteous men to frolick in the town's 90 acres of sculpted lawns, lakes and fountains. "Thais are open-minded, not serious," Dejdeow says. "They respect other's privacy. They don't think it's a big deal." -- TwinkCode v1.12 T8(6!) C3 L5w dv a- w- c+v y! e k(-) s- m1 m2+ GEEK 2.1 GS/L/O !d(?) H++ s+: g+ p? w++ v>!v C+ US+ P--- E- N++@ K++ !W M+ -po+ Y t+@ 5++ j+ G tv b++ !D B- e+ u(++) h f r n+(-) y+(**) Finger for PGP 2.6.1 public key And the Thought of the Moment (tm) is... You had mail. It was boring and has been deleted.