Myanmar's first openly gay ndidate kdl hop for LGBT+ rights | Rters

Contents:

• BEG GAY A COUP: THE PLIGHT OF MYANMAR’S LGBTIQ COMMUNY
• GAY PEOPLE MYANMAR HAVE ADOPTED A SECRET LANGUAGE
• MYANMAR'S FIRST OPENLY GAY NDIDATE KDL HOP FOR LGBT+ RIGHTS
• GAY PEOPLE IN MYANMAR CAN'T LIVE OPENLY. HERE'S WHY
• A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

BEG GAY A COUP: THE PLIGHT OF MYANMAR’S LGBTIQ COMMUNY

A stunt lear durg the 1988 mocracy movement Myanmar before beg exiled to Thailand for 24 years, Aung Myo M was one of the first openly gay men among the revolutnari. But wh homosexualy still crimalised, a ary-drafted nstutn place ready to stifle reform on that ont, not to mentn gross human rights vlatns ntug to impact muni across the untry, there remas a long way to go to cement civil liberti for Myanmar’s LGBT muny. Meanwhile, December 2019, Myanmar’s nttant for the Miss Universe pageant, Swe Z Htet, me out as gay jt days before the ntt.

However, wh an electn earmarked for November, Aung Myo M adms that there is “a long way still to go” before there is equaly between heterosexuals and homosexuals the ey of society and the law.

GAY PEOPLE MYANMAR HAVE ADOPTED A SECRET LANGUAGE

Dpe Aung San Suu Kyi once llg for the crimalisatn of homosexualy 2013, there has been ltle substantive progrs on this ont unr her Natnal League for Democracy party sce they swept to power 2015. To crimalise homosexualy Myanmar a 75% return would be need parliament – a seemgly impossible feat due to the fact 25% of the chamber’s seats are rerved for members of the stnchly nservative ary unr the 2008 nstutn. “The attu wh the law enforcement hasn’t changed much – and homosexualy still remas illegal through Penal Co 377, ” said Aung Myo M.

Homosexualy⚢✖ Male illegal, female uncertaGay Marriage⚭✖ UnregnizedCensorship✔ No censorshipNon-bary genr regnnN/ADiscrimatn✖ No protectnsEmployment Discrimatn✖ No protectnsHog Discrimatn✖ No protectnsDonatg Blood✖ Banned (fe ferral)Conversn Therapy✖ Not banned. Homosexual activy Myanmar is male illegal, female illegal, female uncerta Myanmar crimaliz same-sex sexual activy unr Penal Co 1860, Sectn 377.

MYANMAR'S FIRST OPENLY GAY NDIDATE KDL HOP FOR LGBT+ RIGHTS

Executive SummaryThis study shows that many LGBTIQ persons are subject to vlatns of human rights set forth Universal Declaratn of Human Rights – maly “eedom om discrimatns”, “eedom om torture and gradg treatments”, “right to regnn as a person before the law”, “right to equaly before the law”, “eedom om arbrary arrt and exile”, “right to marriage and fay”, “eedom of belief and relign”, “right to sirable work”, “right to tn” and “right to participate the cultural life of the muny”.Dpe domtic legal ameworks enacted to implement ternatnal human rights nventns such as CEDAW and CRC, many LGBTIQ persons Myanmar also do not enjoy the rights enshred those nventns cludg those mentned unr other ternatnal human rights law such as ICCPR and ICESCR.Homophobia and transphobia are eply rooted and are often followed by a range of physil, emotnal, sexual vlence and enomic ab agast LGBTIQ youths. In some other s, discrimatn the relign or belief sector is associated wh “nversn therapy” that aims to cure homosexualy or bisexualy to return to the state of heterosexualy.The dimensn of lobbyg activi of LGBTIQ anizatns Myanmar primarily diverg on legal reforms and implementatn; leadg the advocy for the amendment of sectn 377 of the Penal Co, along wh other LGBTIQ anizatns across the untry.

The cisn to e out as lbian, gay, bisexual or transgenr n therefore be trmatic, and n sometim rult rejectn by iends and fay.

Popular culture ntribut to the negative stereotypg of LGBT people Myanmar, and the portrayal of gay characters films is particularly harmful.

GAY PEOPLE IN MYANMAR CAN'T LIVE OPENLY. HERE'S WHY

Although the law is rarely enforced, L L said that police monly e to harass, timidate and extort money om gay or MSM people. L L add that Myanmar society is still full of misnceptns about gay people, cludg the belief that all gay men are sexually promiscuo. Many lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, tersex, or queer (LGBTIQ) people, who are still subject to official state persecutn and discrimatn, have joed the CDM, marchg openly wh rabow anti-up signs.

Neverthels, wh this documented public support for crimalisatn and the 2020 electn around the rner, which featured the natn’s first openly gay ndidate, human rights activists Myanmar were hopeful a new set of elected policymakers would dismantle lonial-era anti-sodomy laws that jtify the discrimatn and margalisatn of LGBTIQ people. “Before [ee and fair electns ] 2015, people really uldn’t accept the diverse exprsn of LGBT people; they would jt say we were [livg] unnaturally, ” says Ye Ln, a gay man who is a human rights advote Yangon.

Advocy efforts to repeal a lonial-era law which crimaliz gay sex were unsuccsful, as were efforts to strike down a “shadow law” that allows police to ta anyone they acce of actg spicly after dark.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF LBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL, AND TRANSGENR SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

“They hate to see a man drsed like a woman, and when they see people like this, they not only arrt them but harass them sexually, ” said Aung Myo M, Myanmar’s first openly gay ernment mister.

Wh an electn around the rner (featurg the untry’s first openly gay ndidate), activists Myanmar will soon be prented wh a renewed set of policymakers wh whom reform n be pursued. Elsewhere, however, there are some more worryg s, such as Bnei’s near-stalment of the ath penalty for homosexualy, public officials spoutg anti-LGBT vrl Indonia and Sgapore’s high urt quashg an attempt to crimalise male same-sex relatns.

This realy was ma clear followg the highly publicised suici of 26-year-old gay librarian, Kyaw Z W, who took his life June 2019 after beg forcibly outed and bullied by his lleagu.