Gay People In Myanmar Can't Live Openly. Here's Why | HuffPost The WorldPost

Contents:

• GAY PEOPLE IN MYANMAR CAN'T LIVE OPENLY. HERE'S WHY
• GAY LIFE BURMA: THREADS A REPRSED CULTURE
• IT A'T GREAT BEG GAY MANDALAY
• GOG TO PAGAN: GAY SLANG BURMA
• A PRI WH NO PARA FOR BURMA'S FIRST GAY FTIVAL
• GAY TRAVEL FAQ'S & SAFETY TIPS FOR LGBT TRAVELERS WANTG TO VIS MYANMAR/BURMA
• GAY PEOPLE MYANMAR HAVE ADOPTED A SECRET LANGUAGE

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

While 's illegal to be gay there, we've found the culture to be far more acceptg than other untri Asia which ban homosexualy, cludg Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the Maldiv, and India. LGBTQ+ people are rarely out, the untry is voutly Buddhist, and most Burme people tend to thk of gay men as men who want to be women or drs like women. A holdover om Brish lonial days, homosexualy is illegal Myanmar wh punishment cludg 10 years’ imprisonment.

Though the culture is welg overall, wh rpect to gay travelers 's more like tolerated, not so much enthiastilly embraced. The NomadicBoys, a blog produced by a young well-traveled gay male uple has extensive up-to-date rmatn on the untry and s queer life. A police spokman said at the time that the ps had been performg a “public service” by preventg the group om Myat Tun, a human rights activist wh the Burme LGBT group Colors Rabow, tells The Huffgton Post that such “state-sponsored discrimatn” is a grave ncern for the LGBT muny Myanmar, where homosexualy is crimalized.

GAY LIFE BURMA: THREADS A REPRSED CULTURE

Earlier this year, Myt Kyu, a polician Mandalay, me unr fire om human rights groups for “makg misrmed, discrimatory, and potentially flammatory statements about gay and transgenr people.

IT A'T GREAT BEG GAY MANDALAY

” Durg an Augt parliamentary bate, Kyu, who is the cy’s borr and secury affairs mister was quoted as sayg that the ernment was “nstantly takg actn to have the gays taed at police statns” before “tg” Malaysia, Myanmar -- also a former Brish lony -- still has Sectn 377 of the penal on s books. ”Limed public awarens about LGBT issu is another major problem facg the muny, Tun says, as is a arth of a 2013 terview wh the Myanmar Tim, a 28-year-old gay man named Phyo scribed the visibily of LGBT people Burme culture.

”A 2014 Guardian report discsed how hostily agast homosexualy was unrmg the fight agast HIV/AIDS Myanmar -- which, acrdg to the World Health Organizatn, has one of Asia's hight HIV prevalence is keepg gay men hidn, makg them “hard to reach the most extreme sense, ” Eamonn Murphy, a UNAIDS untry reprentative, told the news outlet. Myanmar's Natnal AIDS Programme said at the time that fewer than 30 percent of the timated 240, 000 gay men Myanmar had received HIV preventn servic. The land is also full of pfalls for lbigay nativ Burma who know ltle about gay pri and sexual inty.

The first person I asked about gay life Burma was a Burme gay activist Bangkok who uld not talk to me much bee he was unr surveillance by “thori” (read, Burme rmants) who spected his activyi and motiv.

GOG TO PAGAN: GAY SLANG BURMA

At that time, Aung Myo M (“Myo”) served as director of the Campaign for Lbigay Rights Burma (CLRB), a mtee tablished mid-1996. Last year he received an award om the Internatnal Gay and Lbian Human Rights Commissn for his “guidg passn” for empowerg lbigay muni through nfintial workshops he aniz wh gay Burme activists who manage to go regularly to Thailand.

My next ntact (2010) was an expat Asie stayg at the gay-owned Tarntawan Hotel Bangkok, Ronald, his late fifti. Havg no other ntacts to pursue about homosexualy Burma, a few days later I cid to ask the Indian-Burme duty manager my chy hotel historic Mandalay.

A PRI WH NO PARA FOR BURMA'S FIRST GAY FTIVAL

He was unffled by my qutn, beg a well-traed hotelier, sayg that homosexualy is not acceptable to his culture but that a gay person would not face any aggrsn or persecutn. Unmarried men and women mt live wh or re for their fai; a gay son or dghter would not be rejected by the fay yet would be expected to keep quiet about his feelgs, at least as long as the parents were alive. When I asked him about homosexualy his first reply, le wh tradnal thought, was that was not ‘bad’ the sense of a ‘s’ (there is no such term Buddhism) but more of a ‘problem’ wh bad karma, a prent-life rult of a past-life actn–due to sexual misnduct wh a woman a prev lifetime (adultery).

GAY TRAVEL FAQ'S & SAFETY TIPS FOR LGBT TRAVELERS WANTG TO VIS MYANMAR/BURMA

If folks wh queer karma gave up their gay activy this life (or had only a few laps) he or she uld e back next time as straight! Not beg at all faiar wh the plexi of wtern psychology and the herent nature of homosexualy, he uld do ltle else than repeat what he had picked up om Buddhist iends, fay or clergy.

Very nice, but I was more terted fdg out what they thought of gay-oriented people so I stepped up the nature of our dialogue: “I would like to unrstand what Buddhism thks about homosexualy–you know when a man wants to be sexual wh a man or a woman wh a woman. There are of urse the furtive cisg plac where the night protects the secrecy of closeted gays who are sgle or married.

GAY PEOPLE MYANMAR HAVE ADOPTED A SECRET LANGUAGE

A few days later at dner wh a well-placed Burme bsman and iend, I asked if he knew any profsnal gay folks who might talk wh me.

I very much sought to talk wh him to ga an unrstandg of how he functned as a gay man such a heavy environment.

The are gay/transgenr men who ‘marry’ Nats–visible spirs thought to hab nature– tre, water, wd, etc. Gay-iendly pub experience wh a unique, cross-cultural sign and menu rangg om thentic pizzas to fn Asian dish.