Homophobia in the workplace

[Oliver2]

I've known P's best mate for a number of years; he's even been on trips with us to Phuket and Chiang Mai. G is in his late 30s and works in a bank in a northern city. His background is more middle-class than that of P and he has a degree. P tells me that his accent and manner of speaking (I assume he means vocabulary and syntax) reflects this background. I hadn't realised that Thais recognise class in this manner
G. is gay but straight-acting; even Arsenal wouldn't guess that he wasn't straight! Although he worked in Pattaya for afew years, he was never involved in the gay scene, commercial or otherwise....indeed, he'd never been to Boyztown when P once arranged to meet him at our hotel.

To cut to the chase, G is facing a severe problem with homophobic abuse at work from other employees. Not the management which has been supportive, but those with whom he works. I'm surprised.
I'd be interested at the views of other posters. While I know that rural villagers can be suspicious of straight-acting gay men while tolerating ladyboys- this is true of P's village- I'd assumed (admittedly without ever considering it before) that in a city, in a middle-class job among professionals, someone like G would not meet overt prejudice.

[arsenal]

Oliver wrote.
". I hadn't realised that Thais recognise class in this manner"

Every country in the world * has accents and ways of speaking that tell where you come from and your background. Straight acting is a personal definition and if G is as such how has his sexuality become public?

* Vatican City might be an exception to this.

[Manforallseasons]

G. is gay but straight-acting; even Arsenal wouldn't guess that he wasn't straight! .
Supposing this were true how is it that they know he is gay?

[frequent]

Supposing this were true how is it that they know he is gay?Equally how do we know that they're unfriendly because he's gay, or there's another reason but they're using his sexuality as a way of getting at him?

[bkkguy]

I'd assumed (admittedly without ever considering it before) that in a city, in a middle-class job among professionals, someone like G would not meet overt prejudice.

late 30's, unmarried, doesn't join in the lunch conversations about who did what to their girlfriend or mia noi over the weekend ... middle-class Thais professions are no more backward in drawing their own conclusions than their western counterparts

and while the management may well be "supportive" I don't know that many of them would be that supportive of promoting G to a middle or senior management position - I mean it is OK to have the odd ladyboy teller but how many openly gay Thais do you see in bank or other big business boardrooms or senior management positions, even in F&B/hospitality

while many gay western tourist and even many gay expats still view Thailand as an accepting gay paradise - and for many of them it may well be because they don't look too hard, for the locals the reality is still quite different and the glass ceiling for gays in the business workforce still hangs quite low

or maybe I am just out of touch and Thailand some time recently has pivoted from being deeply conservative but tolerant to avoid confrontation to being accepting of gay lifestyles and I just missed it

[BOY69]

Exactly . many gay western tourists and gay expats view Thailand as an accepting gay paradise because of the massive entratitment gay tourist venues in Thailand but in fact Thai society is very conservative and Thai parrents aren't exactly happily ever after when they found that one of their children is gay, many Thai males live double live married with woman but go with other males or have gay "mia noi" (mistress in Thai) ,So basically there's no difference to other parts of the world.

[bkkguy]

many gay western tourists and gay expats view Thailand as an accepting gay paradise

it is not difficult to see access to an unlimited supply of gay for pay moneyboys in this rose-coloured glasses way - I was not immune to it myself initially

[Keith]

I use a Thai escort in Bangkok, who is well adjusted, has a good day job, etc, but his father would not speak to him for years when he said he was gay. He is now a little more accepting. His mother was ok with it.

[frequent]

and while the management may well be "supportive" I don't know that many of them would be that supportive of promoting G to a middle or senior management position - I mean it is OK to have the odd ladyboy teller but how many openly gay Thais do you see in bank or other big business boardrooms or senior management positions, even in F&B/hospitalityOn the other hand there's Prem Tinseltoes

[bkkguy]

On the other hand there's Prem Tinseltoes

and on the other hand a wardrobe (note the careful non-use of closet) full of of pink silk jackets does not make one openly gay

and making this like a 4-hand massage, on the other hand at least in the current parliament there are a few members of the Alphabet community - more at the TQI end of the spectrum but this is Thailand after all!

[latintopxxx]

Thais are very good at ignoring whats in front of them of it suits them and keeps the peace, the proliferation of supoposedly illegal prostitution is one very glaring example. Upper class thais even joke that they keep the best for themselves as mistresses and only rejects are allowed to entertain farangs and general public. Every single parent knows exactly what their off spring are up to in the cities and its certainly not waitressing.....but it pays the bills so they accept the lie.