Gay Buddhists and other groups in Thailand.

[ScholarDreamer]

I am interested in what LGBT Buddhist groups are here in Thailand. Also, other LGBT East Asian religious groups.

In Taipei there is a Temple for Tu'er, the Rabbit God, the Taoist god for LGBT. There is a movie, "Kiss of the Rabbit God," on YouTube and it has over 2 million views. I am studing the history of Taoism currently and have made it to the Tang dynasty.

However, I wonder what other LGBT involvements in East Asian religions are there in Thailand.

I plan to visit about five nations for a few weeks each in the year after the pandemic travel restrictions are over. So if you have information about other nations, please let me know and I will start of thread in the proper forum for your reply.

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[Oliver2]

I suspect that you will have to turn to Facebook and other sites like LINE. Support groups in Thailand seem to be informal and personalised.....subscriber to subscriber. Of course, my impression is based entirely on what I have learnt in my LTR and what he has told me. Others may have different information.

The issue of the impact on homosexuality on Buddhist orthodoxies is interesting and perhaps deserves a thread of its own.

[cdnmatt]

I don't understand the question. It's Thailand, they're generally all Buddhists who goto the temple at least a couple times a month.

[pong]

Visited Th since some 30+ years by now and probably have visited at least that nr of temples too-but never ever, nor by reading the famous /en/ newspaper BKK-Post (or before the Nation) or some other sources have I ever read about such groups. Neither from a in my country quite well-known and gay since his early years writer/author living in TH=Chiang Mai since some also 30 yrs. Whereas he has published about every conceivable sexual orientation there may exist.
This does not mean such groups do not exist at all-but if they are will be hard to find and indeed in these modern times that fb will be the best source.
Also: do you know the blogs from christianpfc.blogspot/ he has also visited Taiwan a yr or 2 bfre covid hit and is now in Khmerland=Cambodia. he is also quite interested in anything deviating-what some may call ''abnormal'' for lack of words.

[pong]

Oh-and that all TGhai visit a temple a few times/month-thats only a quite selective group-unless they are in childhood and their primary school is in the temple compound-as is very often the case in the villages and also for quite a few such institutions in BKK proper.

[christianpfc]

I am interested in what LGBT Buddhist groups are here in Thailand. Also, other LGBT East Asian religious groups.

In Taipei there is a Temple for Tu'er, the Rabbit God, the Taoist god for LGBT. There is a movie, "Kiss of the Rabbit God," on YouTube and it has over 2 million views.

Unlike Christianity and Islam, where homosexuality is more or less discouraged (now that's an euphemism!) it is no problem in Buddhism and idea of "gay Buddhist groups" sounds absurd to me. I have no idea!

The closest I can think of are fertility shrines, visited by women who want to become pregnant. The one in Bangkok (Tuptim shrine) was sanitized years ago (most of the wooden phallus removed), and there is one in Krabi (Tham Phra Nang, I haven't been). These are the only places I know where Buddhism and sexuality come together.

I didn't know about this temple, but will check and go next time I'm in Taipei.

[ScholarDreamer]

I would like to point out that there is a Buddhist group in Taiwan that is outspoken regarding LGBT rights.

Similarly in Korea the Won Buddhist groups is known to be very supportive of LGBT rights.

I am not necessarily looking for a separate LGBT Buddhist organization. It could be a focus study group within a larger group. Or it could be that a specific Buddhist group has a strong support for LGBT rights.

There are different efforts regarding LGBT and non-Western religion. In the Philippines it the re-discovery of a pre-colonial god who is understood to be gay by contemporary Gay Filipinos.

In Indonessia there is the movie Wiwitan by a gay Indonesian film producer which touches a family story of a Wiwitan leader and his gay and Muslim on.

In the Thai pantheon of Gods are any known to have a same-sex romance?

I am doing research via multiple venues.

[Dodger]

[QUOTE=ScholarDreamer;281897

I am doing research via multiple venues.[/QUOTE]

Obviously "Google" is your primary venue.

[Armando]

I would like to point out that there is a Buddhist group in Taiwan that is outspoken regarding LGBT rights.

Similarly in Korea the Won Buddhist groups is known to be very supportive of LGBT rights

You really cannot compare Thai society with Taiwan's society. Over the last 15- 20 years, Taiwan has leapt forward in terms of LGBT acceptance. You only have to look at the Annual Pride Parade at the end of October. Pre-pandemic, Taipei's Parade in the afternoon had grown over the years to a total of 160,000 marchers and many bystanders plus a week-end of night parties. Participants were local Taiwanese as well as visitors who had flown in from several countries in Asia. Every Taiwan city also has its own Pride Parades. From the outset these have been organised by individuals rather than gay businesses, although international businesses like Citi now sponsor it. So their organisation has grown from within and not been imposed by gay busnesses.

Compare that with Thailand. Bangkok used to have an annual Pride march. This was organised by the gay business owners, not individuals. It died in the early 2000s and it attracted only those working in the various bars and spas as well as a few owho attended them. Totally unlike Taipei, hardly any Thais from the professional class attended. There was a small Parade a few months ago which attracted 1,000 marchers, but quite a few of these were political protestors merely latching on to the march. The Phuket Gay Pride Parade died a few years ago. Chiang Mai's second Parade in 2009 was so badly heckled by the crowds that it had to be abandoned. In 2019 and 2020 Parades were resurrected but with just a small number of participants. Many individuals in Thai society may be accepting of gay men and women, but few accept open displays of LGBT events.

Sorry I have no experience of Korea but like Thailand it is also a very homophobic society.

[ScholarDreamer]

Okay. I see the moderator of this group has allowed trolling of my inquiry.

The answer is that none of you know. I didn't have high expectation of a group primarily centered on sex tourism or the expat equivalent, but I thought there might be a few bits of information.

What I find instead is a lot of hostility towards the question itself. I think perhaps if you are a group trying to figure out how to give the delivery "boy" a blow job, it is perhaps annoying to have to consider that the delivery "boy" is a human having a dimension which would include the spiritual.