At dinner last night, the topic of the gay community in Thailand was discussed. One diner said that there was no such thing. What are your thoughts?
At dinner last night, the topic of the gay community in Thailand was discussed. One diner said that there was no such thing. What are your thoughts?
James Barnes
Editor-in-chief
OUT in Thailand Magazine
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Until recently, most Thais thought that Gay meant ladyboy. The political themes of human rights were not really acknowleged. I hope that is changing. But the concept of gay community is very vague.
There's no such thing as a gay community, period. A community means having interests (plural) in common, and the only interest gays have in common is pushing their cocks into each other's orifices.
Not really, nope. No need for one either, because for all intents and purposes, nobody gives a shit if you're gay.
yup, in my experience spot on Matt.Originally Posted by cdnmatt
There are only 10 types of people in this world, those that understand binary and those that don't.
It all sounds like Farangs who still have hang-ups about their sexuality being unable to leave them at home.
One third of the gay farang population who live in or around the gay venues in Thailand are expats - and two thirds are gay visitors on holiday who are not there long enough to form a real bedrock for what we refer to as a "community," although to the gay Thais this is very different.
The Thais who migrate to the gay scenes in Bangkok, Pattaya, Phuket and Chiang Mai do so initially with the primary motive of earning money, although very commonly get attached to the Thai gay sub-community - which for them, provides a life and a lifestyle among other gays similar to the way that the so-called "gay communities" in the West are formed. Some Thais, especially those who are truly gay, never leave these sub-communities even when their work in ther sex industry has stopped. Ladyboys and the more effeminate gays being a prime example of this.
It was the gay farang who set the dynamics in play which created these gay communites for the Thais, although, the primary motive of the gay farang has always been on "sex", which in-and-by-itself does not provide the adhesion needed to form any kind of community - gay or otherwise.
How do you define community in this context? Do you refer to the whole of Thailand or just the farang gay community?
If you're asking if there's a community and sub-culture of gay farang who visit or live in Thailand to have sex with prostitutes/moneyboys, then yes, from observation, I'd say there's a bit of a community.
Otherwise, in wider Thailand, there's no one big gay community but probably various small ones.
I agree with most of what you say here but the perspective is inaccurate. You're referring solely to the commercial sex scene, not the wider gay scene as a whole. The commercial sex scene is only a tiny segment of the gay scene in Bangkok and Chiang Mai (different in Pattaya where it dominates). Those who "migrate" to this are prostitutes. Your overview is accurate for them but not for the majority of gays in Thailand.
Beachlover wrote:
My overview focused on the Thai gay sub-communities in Bangkok, Pattaya, Chiang Mai and Phuket, because ouitside of these areas I have never witnessed anything resembling a gay community (Thai or farang). That doesn't mean they don't exist - I just haven't seen them if they do.Your overview is accurate for them but not for the majority of gays in Thailand.
If someone has any knowledge of a gay community outside of these areas it wouid be interesting to learn more.
Beachlover is right. There is a whole separate gay culture for Gay Thai's who aren't into Farangs who never (or very rarely) go to Gay establishments in the Silom area.
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