In my country, there's an old section in the Penal Code which makes gay sex even in your own home an offence that is punishable with long-term imprisonment. Although the government has said that they will not invoke this section, there were people who were charged and prosecuted a few years ago under this section.
Last night I met a friend for a drink. He was a teacher in my son's class at school many years ago. I don't normally meet the teachers of my kids but some years ago, my son came home to tell me that one of his teachers had admitted to the press in an interview that he was gay and was living with a partner. This made big news and soon parents were up in arms against the teacher. The boys at school insisted that he could not have been gay because he was nice!
I immediately informed him that I was entirely on his side and I did all I could to tell off parents who tried to get me to protest against allowing gay teachers to teach in a boys' school. I told them that if gay teachers were not allowed to teach in a boys' school, neither should female teachers. What I said proved prophetic when a couple of years after that, a female teacher was caught having sex with one of the boys. But of course nobody blamed the incident on heterosexuality or the heterosexual agenda.
Anyway, he resigned from the school and is now teaching in Bangkok. When I told him I was in Bangkok, he suggested meeting in a gay bar in Silom. Since I had not been to a gay bar before, I thought that was a great opportunity for me. For those who have not been to a gay bar, it's no big deal. I wouldn't have known it was a gay bar if I had not been told of it.
This is a street lined on both sides with gay bars.
I had to get myself in the photo, of course.
Beer Chang of Thailand
Cheers!
I'm not much of a drinker. It's time for a Coke.
Cheers!!!
Thank you Lim! Thank you for your understanding of the Gay community. You know that I am, but in France it's a lot easier to live than in your hypocritical country (sorry). The whole world knows Thailand and we do not understand why your country is so repressive towards gays.
ReplyDeleteMuslim countries are officially homophobic even if many people are gay but why Thailand?
In any case thank you for your support to your teacher friend and he knows that I ALSO support him.
Friendly hugs
I am now in Bangkok but Thailand is not my country. The teacher left my country to live in Thailand. Thailand is not repressive at all. My country is not as bad as Muslim countries where gays can (in some places) be killed for just being gay. My country is secular and so it is not so bad. But the law against homosexuality came from the British. You probably know that it was also an offence in Britain until the mid-20th century. Oscar Wilde was jailed for homosexual acts and he never really wrote again after that. It's very sad. My country inherits its laws from Britain but it's too conservative to change its laws.
Deletegovernmental repression of human rights is rampant around the world. I was happy to read about your friendship with a chap persecuted for his sexual orientation. Hopefully his situation is better in Thailand, although the military’s role in governing there creates issues.
DeleteThe problem with my country is extreme conservativism and ignorance about homosexuality. It's the same problem I face as a naturist. But it's much worse for the LGBT community. I can always put on clothes but one can't expect the LGBT community to 'put off' their entire nature and identity. Ignorance is rampant. For example, you can see instances of ignorance from this short article.
Delete1. My son's classmates declared that the teacher could not have been gay because he's a good teacher. Implication is good people are not gay.
2. A gay teacher cannot teach in a boys' school. That's as stupid as to say that women can't teach boys. Or men can't teach girls.
3. I forgot to write this in the blog post but one of my friends who heard that I was going to a gay bar warned me against it. He said 'the gays' (as he put it) might not like me going into their bar and they might stab me with an HIV-tainted syringe. There are so many errors in this offensive statement I didn't know how to respond. First, it's so wrong to think of the LGBT community as if they were enemies of heterosexuals. In fact, gay people are far more tolerant of others than heterosexuals. I can think of some communities that might harm a person for being gay but I cannot believe that any gay person can possibly have the desire to harm a man for being heterosexual. And to associate the gay community with HIV tainted blood is just insanity. But this is precisely how many people in my country think. When a campaign to repeal Section 377A of the Penal Code which is the section that criminalises homosexuality, there were many people who insisted that if the section were repealed, our children will have no protection from homosexual attacks. One person even said that every child will become gay. Another said the family unit will be gone. It's this kind of hysteria that is so puzzling. And many people who are homophobes call themselves pro-family. The injustice is so extreme that it's impossible for anyone not to be angry at the whole thing. And some churches influenced by some stupid American fundamentalists champion persecution of gays. Honestly, a lot of the anti-gay hatred comes from the US. I've read about what these American fundamentalists do in African countries - it's positively criminal.
I had to laugh out loud when I read #3 above. Your friend is a dweeb. Instead of fearing physical violence, he should have warned you against wearing form fitting clothes or making too much eye contact. You might get propositioned! There’s at least one guy interested in you: you were photobombed in the last picture.
DeleteHaha, I don't think so. The guy just happened to be looking in our direction. It's the idea that people are going to get violent that creates fear and loathing. As I've said, if there is any violence, it's usually the other way round. Most gay people know of heterosexuals. Their own parents are heterosexual. It's the conservative heterosexuals that can be violent. Many conservative people have not met gay people. The people I know in my country who are gay are very few. I don't think I know more than 4 or 5 gay people in my country and even then, I don't know for sure. I can only suspect they are gay from the mannerism and the fact that they are single. But one can never tell. I know someone who is married and has kids but he's stereotypically gay in his gait, etc. And it shouldn't matter. We don't go round asking if someone prefers oranges or apples. I may think someone is an orange-lover but I may be wrong and it shouldn't matter if he is or not. That is the mentality everyone in my country should adopt.
DeleteAll this talk of apples and oranges is making me hungry. You’re pretty unusual my friend. You’re an unabashed nudist, willing to put it all out there. As has been written on this. Blog, your writings are more revealing than your photos. Enjoy the rest of your spice journey.
DeleteAs I have said before, a picture may be worth a thousand words, but words can easily exceed a thousand. Naturally words can express more. ;)
DeleteOrange lovers are fine, apple lovers are fine, but if they like durians, well... (I only know durians by repute. But it is quite a reputation.)
ReplyDeleteThat's a good point. My favourite fruits are all tropical: mangoes, mangosteens and cempedak but I can't stand the durian. The durian is banned on all public transport and in all hotels. Many people in the West think all Asians like the durian but that's wrong. Many people from China, Korea, Japan and India do not like the durian. It's a fruit indigenous in South-East Asia and only there. It's a strange fruit - you either love it or you hate it. It's all a matter of taste. The cempedak has a very strong smell too but I love it.
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