Cambodia recognizes lesbian as gay couples. Gay males next?

Some lesbian women who have lived together for over ten years in some provinces in Cambodia could be the first legally recognized gay couples in Asia
06 May 2013 | By Anna Leach
Cambodia Pride 2012

A Cambodian LGBT rights activist said that some local authorities in the southeast Asian nation already recognize gay couples as married.

'Some local authorities give marriage certificates to lesbian couples,' said Srorn Srun facilitator for Rainbow Community Kampuchea (RoCK) in a interview with Gay Star News.

Cambodian law defines marriage as between a man and a woman only but in some provinces in the country local government officials have decided to recognize gay couples.

Some of these local government leaders will share their experiences at an IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia) organized by RoCK as part of Cambodia Pride Week on 17 May.

There are 15 lesbian couples that Srorn knows have been issued marriage certificates in Kandal, Takeo, Prey Veng and Kampong Chhnang provinces.

'After Pride Week my job is to visit more provinces and interview gay couples who been given family books from the local authorities, because when they give you a family book it means that they are officially, legally family.'

This means that lucky lesbian women are the first same-sex couples to be legally recognized in Asia.

'In practice they are married,' said Srun. 'They have lived together for many years and the chief says "they live together for a long time already so we don't mind, we accept them".'

Srun said he thinks lesbian couples are accepted more than gay couples because they are more likely to stay in their hometown and live quiet lives.

Last year on 10 December RoCK celebrated International Human Rights Day by inviting 76 couples who have lived together for 10 to 50 years to speak about their experiences.

'Some of them said they have lived together since before the Khmer Rouge!' said Srun. 'It was really inspiring for the young people.'

The event was covered by the media and the next day the prime minister of Cambodia Hun Sen said there should be 'no discrimination against' gays and lesbians. Srun said he thinks the media coverage of the event inspired the prime minister to speak out.

But RoCK are not campaigning to legalize marriage for all gay couples in Cambodia.

'We actually don't really want to advocate for legal marriage rights because our main problem is family acceptance,' said Srun.

'This is the most important thing, because we have lots of rules and laws that are controlled by our parents in our culture. For now we want to encourage people to come out and for families to understand us.'

Srun has recently completed a piece of research looking at the social exclusion of LGBT people for the government.

'We found strong evidence that most of our friends are rejected by their families,' said Srun. 'And when we cannot live within the family we lose out on education and then if we have little education we face unemployment or low paid jobs. And then we are vulnerable to becoming sex workers or drug users.'

Cambodia Pride Week will run from 12 to 19 May. With a coming out workshop, a sports day, a blessing ceremony from Buddhist monks and for the first time a tuk tuk parade.

Last year RoCK felt that a parade would be too politically sensitive, but this year they plan to go public by decorating 20 to 30 tuk tuks with rainbow flags and slogans and to parade them through the streets.

http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/lesb ... ange060513

Family acceptance is a major issue for gays in Cambodia...

Over 90% of the gay guys I've spoken to in Cambodia who had come out to their family had major dramas with it. And in most cases they hadn't managed to resolve that so far... Quite sad.

One small point - Lesbians are not "Gay" - as you will soon find out if you ask them or refer to them as such.

I don't recommend asking either - unless you like verbal abuse or are a skilled kickboxer.

Hint: LGBT - 100% deliberate (as is the pecking order within that acronym)

:occasion9:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by scottish-guy

One small point - Lesbians are not "Gay" - as you will soon find out if you ask them or refer to them as such.

I don't recommend asking either - unless you like verbal abuse or are a skilled kickboxer.

Hint: LGBT - 100% deliberate (as is the pecking order within that acronym)

:occasion9:

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Not quite true everywhere and sometimes subject to fad. For a while the younger gay people on the West coast of the USA were using the word "queer" to describe the gay community. Now, with the inclusion of the Transgenders, I often hear the term "sexual minorities" used to describe the LBGQ and T community (Q is for questioning). Gay and Lesbian are frankly becoming out of date in some circles.

I'm sorry but Lesbians were never IN date in my circles.

I'm not disputing what you say but LGBT throws up 31 million results on Google and LGBQ (which I'd never even heard of till you mentioned it) throws up about 1/10th of that. In both cases you'll notice they get the "L" in front of everybody else - which tells us something.

:hello2:

I think that your comments tell us that you are a paranoid misogynist.

If there are going to be any women around let it be large black ladies such as myself. Personally I've never had any time for lesbians - what's the point of them??? There's a plonker on the Thaivisa Forum who is adamant that gay people shouldn't be fighting for recognition of gay relationships in Thailand while the proposed law discriminates against lesbians with children. :violent1:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Brad the Impala

I think that your comments tell us that you are a paranoid misogynist.

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Only if you don't know the meaning of "misogynist"

A misogynist dislikes women, whereas I just dislike lesbians.

If it were up to me, I'd require them to be licenced.

A liquor licence springs to mind. (It's the way you say it)

:party