In 2015, Thailand enacted the landmark Gender Equality Act that made gender-based discrimination illegal. However, gender discrimination is allowed if it serves to protect “the welfare and safety of a person or for following religious rules, or for the security of the nation” according to Section 17 in the Act.
Despite the lack of overt persecution of LGBTQ+ individuals, Thai society is still not wholly accepting of gender and sexual minorities according to a 2014 UNDP report.
In this article, we interview LGBTQ+ activist Sirisak “Ton” Chaited (they/them) about their recent gender-inclusive monasticism #ทุกคนต้องบวชได้ #ทุกเพศต้องบวชได้ campaign and dive into the brief LGBTQ+ history in Thailand to better understand the intersectionality between religious freedom and LGBTQ+ rights in Thai society.
As 95% of Thais are Buddhists, Buddhism has been the cornerstone of Thai culture for many centuries. Regardless of your interpretation of Buddhist religious scriptures, texts, and teachings, some Thai Buddhist-practioners are of the belief that nonconforming sexual orientation and gender identities may be viewed as a punishment for past lives’ sins or the inability to control sexual tendencies and impulses.
Yet a closer look at Thai history may explain why this notion is not a noble truth.
Predating the Rattanakosin era (1782 AD – present), various temple murals depict homosexuality among Thai men and women according to Chaingmai-based Dutch journalist Sjon Hauser’s observations in Transsexuality in Northern Thailand Historical Notes. “Whether or not Buddhism has been instrumental in influencing the development of the popular Thai notion [of กะเทย “kathoey”, the Thai term commonly used with, but is not limited to, transwomen, intersex individuals, and effiminate gay men], a very similar mixing of physical and psychological sex, gender behaviours and sexuality occurs both in the Pali terms [sic] pandaka and in the Thai term kathoey.
Both terms are parts of conceptual schemes in which people regarded as exhibiting physiological or culturally ascribed features of the opposite sex are categorized together. If Buddhism was not the source of the popular Thai conception of kathoey then at the very least it has reinforced a markedly similar pre-existing Thai cultural concept” wrote Thai history scholar Peter A. Jackson, PhD. in the book Queer Dharma: Voices of Gay Buddhists.
After Thailand transitioned from an absolute into a constitutional monarchy in 1932, the state propagated national culture by implementing traditional concepts of gender as one of the tools to establish social order as observed by Scot Barme, a visiting fellow at the History Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies at the Australian National University in his book Luang Wichit Wathakan and the Creation of a Thai Identity; and renowned Thai scholar Thongchai Winichakul in his book Siam Mapped: A History of the Geo-Body of a Nation.
The concept of Thai nationhood at the time included imposing “modern” notions of gender identity and sexual orientation through state institutions such as the military, the police, and school which remained to this day. Through this “modernization”, the Thai moral construct was propagated to be inherently intertwined with Thai gender roles — modeled after the Victorian middle-class movement in Europe in order to portray Thailand as a “civilized nation”– which is reflected in personal sense of virtue.
Supposedly, adhering to an indoctrinated gender role naturally serves to reflect good morals and character in Thai society. A deviation from the Thai indoctrination of gender roles, in this sense, would allow individuals to shy away from morality, exemplary character, and the Thai nationhood. It is interesting to see how once socially flexible concepts of sexual orientation, gender identity, and morality in ancient Thailand was shaped into an austere and rigid pre-conceived declaration of righteousness by modernity in the pursuit of nationhood. In our pursuit of being civilized we became uncivilized, as it were.
Campaign for change
According to LGBTQ+ activist, TEDx speaker, organizer of the first-ever Chiangmai Pride Parade in 2009, and Amnesty-acclaimed human rights defender, Sirisak “Ton” Chaited, the gender-inclusive monasticism #ทุกคนต้องบวชได้ #ทุกเพศต้องบวชได้ campaign was initiated because “religious freedom is a basic human right”.
For Ton, “religion is generally used as a tool for segregation and is more often than not the root cause of discrimination unto an individual or community; a systemic issue embedded in almost each and every society, including ours”.
Ton’s recent picture of them in a rainbow-clad monastic robe, which was worn for activism only, sparked Thai netizens’ awareness towards the issue. “There is a case of a gay man who went to a certain temple asking to be ordained, but was refused by the monk who thought that the gay man was a katheoy.“
There still exist monks who negatively preach about gender diversity to citizens, said Ton. But through his campaign he hopes to change that.
“I am a human rights activist and defender for gender-diverse individuals and sex workers, I advocate against every kind of human rights infrigement and violation,” said Ton.
“Everyone has the right to share their opinions but with respect and intention of fostering healthy discussion in regards to the human rights principle, as opposed to voicing hateful criticism. Ultimately, humans are the creators of social constructs and history, therefore, humans naturally must have the right to be a part of changing our own constructs and history.”