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...draft of something coming to a web-site and blogs near you...
Discrimination Against Ladyboys (transgenders) in the Land of Smiles, Thailand
Ziggy, 2007
* * * *€œYou will have to wear a man€™s clothes€, said the registrar.
* * ** I€™d never seen a look of shock on someone before, but I saw it that day on May€™s face, my Ladyboy girlfriend. She€™d researched universities for months and had set her heart on Kasem Bundit€™s Business Computers degree program. It would be her second degree, and she was motivated and excited to get started. We€™d come to register and pay her first term€™s fees.
* * ** €œAre you serious?€ asked May.
* * ** €œYes, those are the rules€, replied another person who€™d walked over to re-confirm school policy.
* * * *To ask a Ladyboy to wear a man€™s clothes is akin to asking a man to wear a woman€™s clothes €“ and in this case, for 4 years! It was an insulting and ridiculous request. Adding to the insanity was May€™s appearance. With long hair, breasts, and every part of her persona as feminine as the registrar talking to her...dressing in pants and a tie would have made her the source of constant ridicule. In short, it was neither practical nor emotionally possible for her to do so.
* * ** Once the senior registrar had left though, an assistant said meekly that while it was school policy, it wasn€™t enforced. Not to worry, she said. Such is Thailand. Lots of rules, some followed, some not, some people kind, some not.
* * ** This discriminatory behavior, unfortunately, is not an isolated case.
* * ** The Q Bar in Bangkok, one of the more popular clubs, employs the discrimination card further by barring entry to all Ladyboys. It is a policy NOT based on dress, behavior or any other reasonable rejection criteria. Rather, it is based solely on gender. The reason? Ladyboys have caused too much trouble in the past with other customers and with fights between each other, replied the manager on request.
* * ** Well, it€™s a little hard to imagine that I, in a three piece suit, and May, in a fancy dress, arriving together, were going to cause trouble with customers and fight with other Ladyboys. But we too were rejected entry. It is with great irony that I note the Q Bar in Bali is a gay bar, with nightly transgender performances, and transgenders abound outside.
* * * *Not to be outdone, The Tiger Disco in Phuket, Lucifer€™s Bar on Walking Street in Pattaya, and a host of other establishments follow similar policies. I was even rejected a room at the White House Hotel in Pattaya once due to a policy of not allowing two men to sleep in the same room. It€™s hard to imagine May being referred to as a man, but according to the White House policy, she was.
* * * *The stereotyping argument is a tried and tested one used throughout history to subject blacks, Jews, women, or other minority groups to ill treatment by those in positions of power. It is only used, of course, when the immoral people employing it know they can get away with it. It would be hard to imagine the Q Bar rejecting all women or men due to a few incidents with them. But they can and do discriminate against transgenders precisely because they can get away with it.
* * ** While some people use the argument that private institutions should be allowed to discriminate for any reason they choose, I note with raw irony that none of those people are transgenders. And while not being allowed entry to a bar is not life threatening, what happens when denied entry or other discriminatory actions are applied to things that actually do impact people€™s lives? Most institutions in the world are private. All of my days and nights are in privately owned institutions, such as bars, restaurants, hospitals, universities, hotels, or even my company.
* * ** Kasem Bundit€™s policy of requiring transgendered students to wear clothes of their biological sex is tantamount to barring entry. What kind of society is it that allows heterosexual students a wider choice of educational institutions than its transgendered population?
* * ** A man in Bangkok was recently rejected insurance coverage by AXA, a major firm in Thailand due to a policy to not cover gays. One can only assume such a policy extends to transgenders as well. So are gay men and the transgendered community to be denied the coverage and thus medical treatment available to heterosexuals?
* * * *As for employment, Ladyboys know well that while they might be lucky in finding a company who will hire them for a job other than in a salon; those employers are few and far between. Employment choices are limited due to unwritten policies of many, if not most firms, to not hire transgenders. Having been employed by two large multi-nationals in Thailand, I can say this with some confidence. In some 1000 employees, none were transgendered, which defies basic statistical norms.
* * * *Government organizations, most notably, the police, are also guilty. Ladyboys in Bangkok are regularly targeted for charges of prostitution when caught walking around bar areas like Nana Plaza in Bangkok. A donation of 1000 baht to the arresting officer avoids one night in jail, and is, of course, the primary reason for this sordid practice. Ladies of the night, however, are not picked up, even when adjacent to their Ladyboy counter-parts.
* * * *Even basic governmental functions like getting an ID card can be traumatic for a Ladyboy. May once came home in tears after having been ridiculed at the local police station when she€™d applied for a replacement ID card. When I asked her why they€™d done that, she said it was because she was a Ladyboy.
* * * *The 2007 Constitution introduced by the ruling junta protects the rights of transgenders and gays. However, in what contexts those rights are protected remains unknown. And, as with most things in Thailand, whether those laws are enforced or not can be influenced by payments to the right authorities. So, should the Q Bar wish to continue its discriminatory policies, more than likely they can by making judicious payments to the local police patrols to ensure none get the crazy idea to actually enforce this constitutional amendment; as they do today.
* * * *While discrimination against transgenders is common in Thailand, it should also be noted that their social acceptance in families and in daily life exceeds that of any country in the world. Of that there is little doubt. This situation confuses people into thinking happenings like those noted above are not so bad or perhaps don€™t even exist. Even long time residents are sometimes unaware of what happens on a day-to-day basis. However, live with a Ladyboy, as I have for several years, and you will see it more often than you would like.
* * * *So while Thailand is a haven for its openness and acceptance of the transgender community, it is a haven with prickly thorns.
Discrimination Against Ladyboys (transgenders) in the Land of Smiles, Thailand
Ziggy, 2007
* * * *€œYou will have to wear a man€™s clothes€, said the registrar.
* * ** I€™d never seen a look of shock on someone before, but I saw it that day on May€™s face, my Ladyboy girlfriend. She€™d researched universities for months and had set her heart on Kasem Bundit€™s Business Computers degree program. It would be her second degree, and she was motivated and excited to get started. We€™d come to register and pay her first term€™s fees.
* * ** €œAre you serious?€ asked May.
* * ** €œYes, those are the rules€, replied another person who€™d walked over to re-confirm school policy.
* * * *To ask a Ladyboy to wear a man€™s clothes is akin to asking a man to wear a woman€™s clothes €“ and in this case, for 4 years! It was an insulting and ridiculous request. Adding to the insanity was May€™s appearance. With long hair, breasts, and every part of her persona as feminine as the registrar talking to her...dressing in pants and a tie would have made her the source of constant ridicule. In short, it was neither practical nor emotionally possible for her to do so.
* * ** Once the senior registrar had left though, an assistant said meekly that while it was school policy, it wasn€™t enforced. Not to worry, she said. Such is Thailand. Lots of rules, some followed, some not, some people kind, some not.
* * ** This discriminatory behavior, unfortunately, is not an isolated case.
* * ** The Q Bar in Bangkok, one of the more popular clubs, employs the discrimination card further by barring entry to all Ladyboys. It is a policy NOT based on dress, behavior or any other reasonable rejection criteria. Rather, it is based solely on gender. The reason? Ladyboys have caused too much trouble in the past with other customers and with fights between each other, replied the manager on request.
* * ** Well, it€™s a little hard to imagine that I, in a three piece suit, and May, in a fancy dress, arriving together, were going to cause trouble with customers and fight with other Ladyboys. But we too were rejected entry. It is with great irony that I note the Q Bar in Bali is a gay bar, with nightly transgender performances, and transgenders abound outside.
* * * *Not to be outdone, The Tiger Disco in Phuket, Lucifer€™s Bar on Walking Street in Pattaya, and a host of other establishments follow similar policies. I was even rejected a room at the White House Hotel in Pattaya once due to a policy of not allowing two men to sleep in the same room. It€™s hard to imagine May being referred to as a man, but according to the White House policy, she was.
* * * *The stereotyping argument is a tried and tested one used throughout history to subject blacks, Jews, women, or other minority groups to ill treatment by those in positions of power. It is only used, of course, when the immoral people employing it know they can get away with it. It would be hard to imagine the Q Bar rejecting all women or men due to a few incidents with them. But they can and do discriminate against transgenders precisely because they can get away with it.
* * ** While some people use the argument that private institutions should be allowed to discriminate for any reason they choose, I note with raw irony that none of those people are transgenders. And while not being allowed entry to a bar is not life threatening, what happens when denied entry or other discriminatory actions are applied to things that actually do impact people€™s lives? Most institutions in the world are private. All of my days and nights are in privately owned institutions, such as bars, restaurants, hospitals, universities, hotels, or even my company.
* * ** Kasem Bundit€™s policy of requiring transgendered students to wear clothes of their biological sex is tantamount to barring entry. What kind of society is it that allows heterosexual students a wider choice of educational institutions than its transgendered population?
* * ** A man in Bangkok was recently rejected insurance coverage by AXA, a major firm in Thailand due to a policy to not cover gays. One can only assume such a policy extends to transgenders as well. So are gay men and the transgendered community to be denied the coverage and thus medical treatment available to heterosexuals?
* * * *As for employment, Ladyboys know well that while they might be lucky in finding a company who will hire them for a job other than in a salon; those employers are few and far between. Employment choices are limited due to unwritten policies of many, if not most firms, to not hire transgenders. Having been employed by two large multi-nationals in Thailand, I can say this with some confidence. In some 1000 employees, none were transgendered, which defies basic statistical norms.
* * * *Government organizations, most notably, the police, are also guilty. Ladyboys in Bangkok are regularly targeted for charges of prostitution when caught walking around bar areas like Nana Plaza in Bangkok. A donation of 1000 baht to the arresting officer avoids one night in jail, and is, of course, the primary reason for this sordid practice. Ladies of the night, however, are not picked up, even when adjacent to their Ladyboy counter-parts.
* * * *Even basic governmental functions like getting an ID card can be traumatic for a Ladyboy. May once came home in tears after having been ridiculed at the local police station when she€™d applied for a replacement ID card. When I asked her why they€™d done that, she said it was because she was a Ladyboy.
* * * *The 2007 Constitution introduced by the ruling junta protects the rights of transgenders and gays. However, in what contexts those rights are protected remains unknown. And, as with most things in Thailand, whether those laws are enforced or not can be influenced by payments to the right authorities. So, should the Q Bar wish to continue its discriminatory policies, more than likely they can by making judicious payments to the local police patrols to ensure none get the crazy idea to actually enforce this constitutional amendment; as they do today.
* * * *While discrimination against transgenders is common in Thailand, it should also be noted that their social acceptance in families and in daily life exceeds that of any country in the world. Of that there is little doubt. This situation confuses people into thinking happenings like those noted above are not so bad or perhaps don€™t even exist. Even long time residents are sometimes unaware of what happens on a day-to-day basis. However, live with a Ladyboy, as I have for several years, and you will see it more often than you would like.
* * * *So while Thailand is a haven for its openness and acceptance of the transgender community, it is a haven with prickly thorns.
and so true. people should be able to live and let live.... do and be what ever they like as long as there not hurting any one else.... To much small mindedness and greed for that... 
's
. I posted before I read your second post.
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