In Vietnam, an unlikely haven for gays - and a lucrative market | Rters

Contents:

• GAY VIETNAM: IS THE UNTRY TURNG TO AN ‘LGBTQ+ PARADISE’?
• SAIGON GAY TRAVEL
• IN VIETNAM, AN UNLIKELY HAVEN FOR GAYS - AND A LUCRATIVE MARKET
• GAY TELEGRAM GROUP LKS 18+
• GAY VIETNAM: THE MOST BETIFUL PLAC VIETNAM FOR DISCERNG GAY TRAVELLERS

GAY VIETNAM: IS THE UNTRY TURNG TO AN ‘LGBTQ+ PARADISE’?

There are no laws or regulatns on homosexualy or homosexuals Vietnam, and no mentn of gays as a risk group for HIV and AIDS. Acrdg to the Encyclopedia of Sexualy: In Vietnam, there has historilly been relatively ltle male homosexualy, although a few of the emperors of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuri did mata male ncub.

In prent-day Vietnam, homosexualy is still regard as beg a foreign problem, and, as other socialist untri, there is a lack of official rearch on homosexual behavr. The Vietname e more than one exprsn for the Wtern neologism homosexualy, although all have the same unrlyg meang of "half man and half woman. The ncept of homosexualy only me to greater e wh the troductn of Wtern psychology and sexology so-lled hygiene manuals the 1950s and 1960s.

Ai Nam Ai Nu is the clost scriptive approximatn to what is meant ontologilly and behavrally by the Wtern term homosexualy, though, if one tak Ai as a verb, the term closer to "bisexual" behavr. As far as the prevailg sexual activi, mutual masturbatn and fellat, are ncerned, there do not appear to be any strongly veloped sense of playg a mascule or feme sexual role of the kd as is often found other societi where anal terurse is more prevalent and the ultimate objective of homosexual enunters. Proschan (1998) has reported that although "gay" might be the only English word some of his rmants had known, they had embraced as their own and imbued wh meangs that diverge om those of Englishspeakers elsewhere: Vietname men today are fashng diverse ways of livg as men-who-love-men, drawg varly on endogeno tradns and inti as well as exogeno ncepts and practic, bg and rebg them, and at the same time nttg both cultural nventns that would nmn homosexualy as patible wh filial piety and metropolan notns that would sist there is only one way to be thentilly gay.

SAIGON GAY TRAVEL

(1898) terpreted homosexualy as a qutnable behavr rultg om the Che cultural fluence, and a sign of nce that disappeared after the French fluence gaed fluence.

There were also homosexual steam baths, nightclubs, and ffee shops, and young boys, impoverished and orphaned by the war, sold themselv openly on street rners to passersby. For Amerin soldiers, was risky to be volved homosexual activy, bee the army did not tolerate , and spected homosexuals were immediately given a dishonorable discharge (Taylor 1997). Acrdg to Marnais (1967), who scrib tail male and female homosexualy, lbianism uld be found at all levels of society durg the Vietnam War.

IN VIETNAM, AN UNLIKELY HAVEN FOR GAYS - AND A LUCRATIVE MARKET

Proschan (Aronson 1999; "Frank" 2000) wr that neher homosexual inty nor behavrs had ever been explicly illegal Vietnam.

The ancient legal s of the Le Dynasty (1428-1787) and the Nguyen Dynasty (1802-1945) tailed the penalti for crim such as heterosexual rape, asslt, adultery, and ct, but left homosexualy unmentned.

GAY TELEGRAM GROUP LKS 18+

On the few ocsns when homosexual activi seem to have been punished, they had been treated as rape or as adultery (disregardg the fact that both partners were the same sex, and ncentratg stead on the fact that one or both were married to other partners). Although homosexualy or sodomy was not specifilly referred to anywhere morn Vietname crimal law, "sex buyg and sellg any form" was prohibed, as were more general and vague crim such as "unrmg public moraly. " In the latt Law on Marriage and Fay (1986), no article mentned the State attu or any guil for public opn about homosexual behavr.

But Vietname thori uld fd legal basis for punishg homosexual behavr if they chose, bee crim such as "unrmg public moraly" uld be ed (as siar crim of "public cency" or "solicg" are the U. There were many other homosexual women livg together the provce but Hong Kim Huong, 30, and Cao Tien Duyen, 23, were the only on who were married publicly, he said.

GAY VIETNAM: THE MOST BETIFUL PLAC VIETNAM FOR DISCERNG GAY TRAVELLERS

Other homosexual marriag have taken place Vietnam discrete ceremoni, but homosexualy remas taboo the untry, although is not officially illegal. AFP reported: "While police fd hard to take actn agast gay activy public plac, they move cisively on male brothels. The mastream gay scene the southern metropolis is also facg hard tim, wh s only gay club shuttered, ostensibly for refurbishment.

On a raid on a gay sna party, Agence France Prse reported: "Thirty homosexual men have been arrted durg a raid by police on a fns center Vietnam's southern metropolis of Ho Chi Mh cy, officials said. The center, which opened earlier this year, has been popular among the cy's gay muny wh a reasonable entrance fee of only about three dollars, the state-owned Thanh Nien (Young People) daily said. AFP reported: "Outward discrimatn of the kd sometim found Wtern untri is rare Vietnam, possibly bee homosexualy do not yet exist as a firm ncept Vietnam and also bee a large gree of same-sex tactily is accepted as normal Southeast Asian cultur.

As an ditn of how open thgs have gotten Vietnam, Tong Tan, a rpected and openly homosexual artist Saigon, openly creat art which celebrat his "obssn" wh the penis. In the late 1990s a grassroots gay group emerged wh the aim of rcg the spread of HIV/AIDS among gay and bisexual men Ho Chi Mh Cy. As publitns like The Men of Viet Nam: A Travel Gui to Gay Viet Nam and Web s like suggt, foreign homosexual sex tourism is on the rise.