Thailand is one of the most tolerant countries in Asia when it comes to homosexuality, Male and female same-sex activity are both legal in Thailand. Though Same-sex couples does not have the same legal protection as other people who have a regular opposite-sex relationship. Same-sex sexual activity has been legal in Thailand since 1956 and the age of consent was set to 15. Even though it was legal to be homosexual, it was still seen as signs of a mental illness or a defect. In the year of 2002, the Thai ministry of Health declared that homosexuality was no longer viewed as a mental illness or any sort of disorder. In 2005 the Thai armored forces allowed LGBT persons to serve in the military. Then in 2007 the Thai government made the definition of sexual assault and rape broader by adding that men can also be victims of rape and sexual assault. All these are good things but the Thai Red Cross still has a ban, which states that men who have sex with other men can’t be blood donors.

According to a non-profit organization called the Khon Thai Foundation, 56 percent of Thais between 15-24 think that homosexuality is wrong.

That means that over half of the young population in Thailand thinks that it’s wrong being gay.

And I think that one of the reasons that the discrimination is quite big is because there are no laws that prohibit discrimination towards a person’s sexual orientation in the country, which keeps occurring.

But if you travel to Thailand as a gay tourist, there are a lot of gay bars for you to enjoy."

Joakim, 14_tek_b

As it says earlier in the text, homosexuality is legal in Thailand but same-sex marriage is currently unrecognized. Homosexual couples also can’t adopt children because only married couples are allowed to adopt kids. So there is actually no real law that says, same-sex couples are not allowed to adopt, only that they can’t get married and therefore can’t adopt kids.

The term “Kathoey” is commonly translated as transgender in English but that word is not

commonly used in Thailand. The Term can be used to describe tans individuals but also homosexual males and it was originally used to refer to a intersex person. Because of all these confusing things, the most used translation of “Kathoey” in the English language is “Lady boy”. Currently Transgender individuals in Thailand face a number of social obstacles. Their families, and especially their fathers are normally disappointed if their kid becomes a kathoey.  But there is still a greater acceptance for the kathoey community in Thailand, if compared to most Asian countries. There are no legal recognition of kathoeys or transgender individuals is Thailand, if a trans person has had a genital reassignment they are not allowed to change their legal sex.

So overall Thailand is a lot more accepting of LGBT people compared to the rest of Asia’s countries, but they do not have many laws against discrimination of LGBT individuals. Trans persons are normally accepted but not as much from their families."

Ett av de projekt som kopplades till vårt arbete med kuben är vårt årliga "Country Project" som är ett tvärvetenskapligt projekt där fokus ska ligga på förståelsen för andra länder och kulturer, i detta fall engelsktaliga länder då engelskan är ett a...

Ett av de projekt som kopplades till vårt arbete med kuben är vårt årliga "Country Project" som är ett tvärvetenskapligt projekt där fokus ska ligga på förståelsen för andra länder och kulturer, i detta fall engelsktaliga länder då engelskan är ett a...

Ett av de projekt som kopplades till vårt arbete med kuben är vårt årliga "Country Project" som är ett tvärvetenskapligt projekt där fokus ska ligga på förståelsen för andra länder och kulturer, i detta fall engelsktaliga länder då engelskan är ett a...

Ett av de projekt som kopplades till vårt arbete med kuben är vårt årliga "Country Project" som är ett tvärvetenskapligt projekt där fokus ska ligga på förståelsen för andra länder och kulturer, i detta fall engelsktaliga länder då engelskan är ett a...

Ett av de projekt som kopplades till vårt arbete med kuben är vårt årliga "Country Project" som är ett tvärvetenskapligt projekt där fokus ska ligga på förståelsen för andra länder och kulturer, i detta fall engelsktaliga länder då engelskan är ett...