Thai Gay groups seek change to rape laws

THe Nation

"Gay-rights advocates yesterday called for laws to cover the rape and sexual assault of homosexuals and transgender victims. They want legislation amended following incidents in which homosexual men have been unable to bring rape charges as a result of the "limited coverage of the law".

Gay-rights groups want the definition of rape in the Criminal Code expanded to cover homosexual and transgender victims as well as sexual violation with sex toys and other implements. Forced oral sex needed to be included also, they said. Outspoken gay activist Nathee Teerarojjanaponse, of the Gay Group on Thai Politics, said sex charges were limited to those by men on women.
Gay men were victims of rape, too, but not covered by the law, he said....."

Full article at http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2007/04 ... 031048.php

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This is exactly the kind of campaigning work that needs ot be supported in Thailand.

As always there does need to be some balance against the kind of campaigning I am used to in the UK, towards what is likely to achieve the best outcome in Thailand.

How can we help this work? How can we support the Thai gay community?

How can we help this work? How can we support the Thai gay community?

Same way a foreigner in your country could help change legislation: by letting the locals do their thing and keeping your big farang nose out of places it doesn't belong.

As always there does need to be some balance against the kind of campaigning I am used to in the UK, towards what is likely to achieve the best outcome in Thailand.

I am at a loss to understand what is meant by this sentence or why a swipe should be taken at British campaigners. Of course methods used in one social setting will not be effective in another vastly different. However, only last month the forces of reaction and conservatism (note the little "c") were successfully defeated in the Hose of Lords, despite the appointment by the Catholic friendly Blair of a Minister of Equality who subscribes to a bizarre Catholic Sect, allusions to the safety of children from the Roman Bishop of London and very strange noises coming from the Archbishop of Canterbury who seems to be dictated to from south of the Sahara. These people asserted that partial equality could be portrayed as equality. The Peers didn't buy it thanks in part to prolonged and persistent campaigning by groups such as Stonewall and the LGBT section of my trade union.

I heartily agree with BG that there is nothing more guaranteed to kill a change movement in Asia stone dead than the perception that it is being driven from the West.

Is a forced entry with a sexual toy considered rape in the UK?
Male rape is a very good cause, the more involved the better. If it were not for expats in HK for example, gay issues wouldn't even be spoken about in the press. There is certain license we have in the english language press here to speak our mind, even in the face of almost absolute bigotry in the local population. Quite often this paves the way for closer scrutiny, without guilt or shame from authority.

[Lunchtime O'Booze]

bit late to be lecturing people about not being involved in a campaign that is actually important-targetting victims of male rape !

as for the local "English" press speaking it's mind-if you are referring to the gutter rags typified by some of the Pattaya fish wrappers-they would shame even Fleet Street !! :geek:

If it were not for expats in HK for example, gay issues wouldn't even be spoken about in the press. There is certain license we have in the english language press here to speak our mind, even in the face of almost absolute bigotry in the local population.

Only last night, my conversation with a Hong Kong lawyer friend taking Ching Ming here in Thailand, turned to the days of the MacLellan affair which led to the decriminalisation of homosexual acts in Hong Kong. At that time, I was a colleague of a prominent local lesbian who was amongst the vanguard in that movement. I remember very clearly at the time, that whilst some opinions were sought by the media, of an ex-pat legal academic at HKU, it was clear that the movement for change had to be locally driven and that accusations of imposing western values would quickly be made by the "forces of conservatism". Debated in the Urban Council and Legco revealed a breadth of opinion amongst the Chinese population with the most enlightened view, in my opinion, being made by the Head of the Legal at the time.


Between the Catholics, Presbyterians, and Confuscists, Hong Kong can be a very bigotted place, but depite the focus on wealth accumulation the people can display a deep sense of honour and generosity when they perceive real injustice or need.

As to the English language media, e.g. the SCMP, it needs to be recognised that it's readership is largely educated local Chinese more than ex-pat.

Ching Ming, Grave-Sweeping Day, observed on April 5.

The date is indicated on the Chinese calendar with the two characters: ching, meaning pure or clean, and ming, meaning brightness. Combined together, Ching Ming means clean and just.

Ching Ming however in Hong Kong has an entirely different meaning. Here Ching Ming means going to your ancestors grave in some lovely unspoilt isolated spot in the mountain sides of the new territories and dumping tons of shit in the environment, and cutting down or setting fire to as much precious ancestral forest as you can in one day.

As for Local Chinese getting their shit together as far as Gay rights are concerned dont make me laugh, I'll choke on my first dose of caffein of the day. The "movement for change" what little there is has never been locally driven. Locals are terrified to speak out. Since Hong Kong reverted back to the Chinese there has been a dramatic shift of thinking. No longer is there the ripe and ready excuse of western values being pushed down their throats, the old colonial card. This hoary excuse of old of course held no sway anyway, given that it was a British colony, and they were particularly useless and reticent at introducing any meaningful change during their entire occupation of the territory. No it was just as it still is today a deep disgust at discussing or even an acknowledgement of anything to do with homosexuality.
However where it has changed is that now there seems to be an eagerness amongst the "enlightened" minority to embrace Western ideas and leadership, as they are all too busy pointing fingers at backwards and imposing China. Though even this is more racist than meaningful, the Chinese being seen as uncouth peasants with no dress sense. However it is authority here that is the biggest problem as they are all too eager to please Beijing. Thats where the English language press is also pivotal.

News papers like the SCMP and especially the Post magazine are exactly the only ones with a voice and they are unafraid to use it. I disagree with you that their readership is largely educated local Chinese more than expats. Its both of course. Ever seen an expat pouring over a Chinese language newspaper??? The SCMP is about as an effective whistle blower/watch-dog and opposition as the city will ever have for a long time to come, and this includes exposing and promoting gay rights.

[Aunty]

I am sick to death of rape, and stories of rape, and womenтАЩs false claims of rape. I am sick of the language of rape that women have constructed which has turned rape into the worst of the worst of assaults - worse even than assaults which result in death, or permanent injury. Rape Crisis Centre. What exactly is the fucking crisis, that there isnтАЩt enough rape? Why is rape a тАШcrisisтАЩ anyway? Why isnтАЩt rape thought of as a sick fucking joke perpetuated by only the most pathetically inadequate men and women among us? But no, RAPE is hyped up into something all together more hysterical, more monstrous, more foul, more dirty, more even, than murder.

But why arenтАЩt ordinary assaults treated in the same way too? Why is there a special category of assault for rape? Just because wimmin have sexualised it? Because man-hating, cock-loathing, penis-envying feminist lesbos want it that way? Or maybe it allows the vindictive shrew to pour out her bile on men with false accusations of rape or the self-serving deceitful slapper who now, 5-10 years later, cries rape to abdicate all responsibility for her previously morally degenerate behaviour? And once rape is claimed, the whole rape industry jumps on board with a lot of hand-wringing wimmin healers, reclaiming their bodies, reclaiming themselves, taking women on their journey of healing to wholeness, running around wailing their slogans - arenтАЩt it just awful. All men are rapists. IтАЩm surprised they donтАЩt have wailing contests.


And now we have Thai gay men who want rape just like women, and feminist-thinking farang gay men willing to jump on board to help them. The emancipated gay man, I donтАЩt think so. Rather than demanding Thai rape laws be extended to cover male rape, why not demand that the current assault laws are brought to bear on the offender?

That would be a start?