November 5th, 2007, 09:38
An Australian academic is trying to preserve the story of Thailand's gay, lesbian and transgendered communities in the face of official opposition
Bangkok Post
Stories by PICHAYA SVASTI
About 2,000 books, magazines, photo albums, video tapes, movie and audio CDs relating to homosexuals fill the small room that is the country's only library dedicated to documenting the local gay community.
Called the Thai Queer Resource Centre (TQRC), it was founded by Australian scholar Assoc Prof Peter Jackson with the aim of preventing the history and voice of the Thai GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) community from erosion by the state.
"No official library in Thailand is collecting this material. Also, the police are out to destroy them. It's therefore essential that the Thai GLBT community, and researchers such as myself work together to save these important records of Thai queer history," explained Jackson, senior fellow in Thai history at the Australian National University's Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies.
There is a lot of interest among Thai university students in conducting research on Thailand's gay, lesbian and transgendered community, he said, but the authorities view material that reflects the lives of the Thai GLBT community as immoral and illegal, which must be destroyed. So there is no place where students or researchers can find such historical records.
Hence his effort to set up the Thai Queer Resources Centre to collect as many publications as possible before the police and ill-informed government policies lead to them being destroyed.....
Full article:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/Outlook/05Nov2007_out44.php
Bangkok Post
Stories by PICHAYA SVASTI
About 2,000 books, magazines, photo albums, video tapes, movie and audio CDs relating to homosexuals fill the small room that is the country's only library dedicated to documenting the local gay community.
Called the Thai Queer Resource Centre (TQRC), it was founded by Australian scholar Assoc Prof Peter Jackson with the aim of preventing the history and voice of the Thai GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender) community from erosion by the state.
"No official library in Thailand is collecting this material. Also, the police are out to destroy them. It's therefore essential that the Thai GLBT community, and researchers such as myself work together to save these important records of Thai queer history," explained Jackson, senior fellow in Thai history at the Australian National University's Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies.
There is a lot of interest among Thai university students in conducting research on Thailand's gay, lesbian and transgendered community, he said, but the authorities view material that reflects the lives of the Thai GLBT community as immoral and illegal, which must be destroyed. So there is no place where students or researchers can find such historical records.
Hence his effort to set up the Thai Queer Resources Centre to collect as many publications as possible before the police and ill-informed government policies lead to them being destroyed.....
Full article:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/Outlook/05Nov2007_out44.php