Bhutan Jt Voted to Legalize Gay Sex Historic Move | Them

Contents:

• BHUTAN JT VOTED TO LEGALIZE GAY SEX HISTORIC MOVE
• HOW GAY ARE BHUTANE GAYS?
• BHUTAN GAYS CELEBRATE AFTER HOMOSEXUALY CRIMALISED
• BHUTAN BE LATT ASIAN NATN TO DIAL BACK ANTI-GAY LAWS
• GLOBALGAYZ: THE BOOK
• GAY TRAVEL TO BHUTAN ADVICE PLEASE... - BHUTAN FOM
• BHUTAN OVERLAND: A GAY TRAVEL CULTURAL TOUR
• WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE

BHUTAN JT VOTED TO LEGALIZE GAY SEX HISTORIC MOVE

In Augt, Sgapore crimalized gay sex, although the ernment also spoke of safeguardg marriage as a unn between a man and woman. Bhutan’s penal — which clud the ban on gay sex — took effect 2004, four years before the untry held s first electns as part of a transn om absolute monarchy to nstutnal mocracy. ”“It’s all happeng much more quickly than I anticipated, ” said Namgay Zam, the former director of the Journalists’ Assn.

HOW GAY ARE BHUTANE GAYS?

(Namgay Wangch / AFP/Getty Imag) “They had a strong reactn, but I want to give hope to people like me, who e om a hard nservative fay, ” she said. A jot stg of both ho of Bhutan’s parliament approved a bill on Thursday to legalize gay sex, makg the ty Himalayan kgdom the latt Asian natn to take steps towards easg rtrictns on same-sex relatnships. “Homosexualy will not be nsired as unnatural sex now, ” Wangdi told Rters by phone om the Bhutane pal of Thimphu, whout givg tails.

Photo: Tashi TshetenOn June 7, Bhutan’s lower hoe overwhelmgly voted to repeal Sectns 213 and 214 of the Bhutan Penal Co, takg a historic step towards crimalisg homosexualy the Himalayan untry. And while the Fance Mister of Bhutan, Namgay Tsherg, lled the existg sectns “a sta” on the untry’s reputatn, the legislative mtee of the Bhutane Natnal Assembly went on to move the motn to pass the amendment to s penal , on June Tsheten—a 26-year-old gay Bhutane om Thimphu and the director of lol LGBTQ anisatn Rabow Bhutan—tells VICE about growg up queer a patriarchal society, and what this piece of news means to him:Growg up queer Bhutan was a ltle lonelyI wouldn't say growg up queer was difficult Bhutan but there has never been much visibily of the LGBTQ muny the untry. Not g across any gay, bisexual or queer persons ma me feel very Tsheten, an LGBTQ activist om BhutanBullyg was mon bee boys are expected to be a certa wayI realised I was gay back 2015 when I turned 22.

BHUTAN GAYS CELEBRATE AFTER HOMOSEXUALY CRIMALISED

THIMPU, BHUTAN (AFP) - Bhutan's LGBT muny celebrated on Saturday (June 8) after the ty Himalayan kgdom's parliament beme the world's latt to crimalise homosexualy.

"A lot of cried, " said Tashi Tsheten of Rabow Bhutan that reprents the untry's lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr (LGBT) muny.

BHUTAN BE LATT ASIAN NATN TO DIAL BACK ANTI-GAY LAWS

The law had never been ed, but Fance Mister Namgay Tsherg, who submted the remendatn to repeal sectns 213 and 214 of the penal , said they had bee "a sta" on the untry's reputatn. The LGBTQ+ muny Bhutan has sred a major victory after the untry’s parliament overwhelmgly voted to crimalize homosexualy. “Homosexualy will not be nsired as unnatural sex now, ” Ugyen Wangdi, a reprentative the lower hoe, nfirmed to to the legislatn’s passage, sectns Sectns 213 and 214 of the Penal Co of Bhutan outlawed “sodomy or any other sexual nduct that is agast the orr of nature.

Although the Tmp admistratn’s own mpaign to crimalize homosexualy has yet to bear much u, there have been notable gas recent years. Article 213 Chapter 14 of the Penal Co of Bhutan stat, “A fendant shall be guilty of the offence of unnatural sex, if the fendant engag sodomy or any other sexual nduct that is agast the orr of nature” Do unnatural sex, which is grad as a petty mismeanour, clu homosexualy? Most of the gays Letro knew refed to even give ments for fear of beg intified if their inty was not kept secret, spe promis that their nam would not be revealed.

Inter s mentn Bhutan as a untry where there is a law agast homosexuals wh imprisonment rangg om a month to a year. Acrdg to science, sexual orientatn (cludg homosexualy and bisexualy) is the rult of a batn of environmental, emotnal, hormonal, and blogil factors.

GLOBALGAYZ: THE BOOK

” It said that homosexualy has been observed among 1, 500 speci, and that the behavur has been well documented 500 of those speci. As for Letro, he has plans of settlg abroad where he n live openly wh the fact that he is a homosexual stead of havg to pretend that he is heterosexual, which is what he mt do here Bhutan.

Gay marriag – the polilly rrect term beg “same sex unns” – have been legalised such untri as South Ai, the Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, and Spa.

Till the time Bhutane society accepts and rpects gays our society, gays will always rema silent and secretive. ON MY FIRST VISIT to Bhutan 2007, one of the participants on our trip asked our gui Dorji about gay people Bhutan. Dorji’s straight-faced reply was “I don’t thk we have gay people Bhutan.” Our driver, Karma, smirked at this ment, sayg that he thought otherwise.

GAY TRAVEL TO BHUTAN ADVICE PLEASE... - BHUTAN FOM

People would ask me if I was married or had a girliend, and my answer—that I’m gay and have a male partner—was always well received. When I replied that gay marriage was not permted my state (at that time), several people remarked, “I am sorry for that.” But very few dited that they knew anyone Bhutan who was gay. I lead tours to Bhutan, so I have the opportuny to vis several tim per year, and many gay upl have traveled wh me.

BHUTAN OVERLAND: A GAY TRAVEL CULTURAL TOUR

I alert my lol unterpart and bs partner, Dorji, who 2007 oped that Bhutan has no gay people, about the sleepg arrangements for guts. He reasoned that people feel the need to nform to societal norms, which emphasize marriage and fay, so gay Bhutane probably married people of the oppose sex or remaed sgle and silent about their te nature.

Physil affectn between iends of the same sex is monplace, and a foreigner uld be fiven for thkg the are gay iends or upl hangg out together. In 2008, the private newspaper The Bhutan Observer prted an article tled “How Gay Are Bhutane Gays?” The article said that gays Bhutan are largely quiet and closeted and that there is no Wtern-style gay rights movement Bhutan.

It did not nmn homosexualy or ll un-Bhutane, though implied that the absence of a gay rights movement was due to the nature of Bhutane culture, which regards sex as a private matter that’s not openly discsed. Most of the repli—and they went on for months—seemed to be wrten by heterosexual Bhutane who stated that was time for Bhutan to align s polici wh the rt of the world and regnize and accept gay Bhutane.

WISNS MIDDLE SCHOOL FEATUR 'THIS BOOK IS GAY' LIBRARY, STIRRG ONLE OUTRAGE

Buddhist Bhutan has no holy book that nmns homosexualy, and Bhutan seems a very tolerant and non-judgmental untry.

Their reluctance seemed to revolve around the ia that “people would talk.” Homosexualy was somethg people were unfaiar wh, so would set them apart om what was mon and expected this tradnal society. Facebook, which is wily ed by the Bhutane, saw the formatn of several groups dited to gay people: Gay Bhutan, lgbtq Bhutan, and Hot Gay Bhutan all appeared a short space of time. In the past several years, the privately owned Bhutan Observer and Bhutan Bs, as well as the ernment-owned Kuensel, have n stori about gay Bhutane.