Buddhist homophobia in Thailand

When did this happen everyone keeps saying that Thailands a gay paradise - http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investi ... h-buddhism (http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/351847/gay-and-transgender-katoey-struggle-with-buddhism)

"Buddhism [in Thailand] was created only for heterosexual people. Male and female are the only genders that are recognised by the religion," Venerable Shine Waradhammo said.

[latintopxxx]

...u almost sound shocked...dont mistake all those smiles for acceptance.....I alsways have a good snigger at all the silly westerners who discard their Christian religion/back ground for Hinduism or Buddhism..or some other mystic form of enlightenment...because they think its more accepting...absolute nonsense....

[dante]

Comparatively, it's pretty difficult to argue whether or not Thailand is more accepting of homosexuality compared to our Western counterparts. Granted, the more conservative aspects of Thai society may not be as accepting, but as a general rule, Thailand is very accepting of homosexuality.

as a general rule, Thailand is very accepting of homosexuality.I'm very interested to know what you base that conclusion on.

[Beachlover]

I think there needs to be a balanced perspective... There's still many pockets of discrimination and non-acceptance here and there but generally, I feel more accepted and comfortable being gay in Thailand than I do in most other countries, certainly more than any other Asian country.

It's not really true to say wealthier or middle-class Thais are all homophobic. I've had four boyfriends from very wealthy or fairly well off middle class families in Bangkok and none of them indicated any issues with acceptance at all.

On the other hand, I employ a few transgender Thais and have heard some pretty sad stories from them. One climbed her way up the corporate ladder in Bangkok and was quite successful. She worked for a few multinational companies and didn't really have any issues with being transgender while she was at the bottom of the ladder.

But she ran into problems when she was finally offered a middle-management position in a large multi-national company in Bangkok. Soon after she started that job, her bosses and peers found out she was actually a transgender person where for some reason, they didn't know that before... she says she was discriminated against and eventually let go. This was when she decided to up and leave Thailand... I think it's been a pretty tough journey for her but the happy ending is that she has a great standard of life here now and earns more than she or her managers ever would have earned in Bangkok. And she's a fantastic employee.