{"id":3680,"date":"2019-08-14T10:08:38","date_gmt":"2019-08-14T03:38:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/new-eng\/?p=3680"},"modified":"2026-01-28T10:54:58","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T04:24:58","slug":"gay-yangon-librarian-who-took-own-life-mentally-weak-inquiry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/?p=3680","title":{"rendered":"Gay Yangon librarian who took own life \u2018mentally weak\u2019: inquiry"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>14 August 2019<strong>1.5K<\/strong><strong>11<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A probe into the death of a gay Myanmar man which cast a spotlight on the marginalised community concluded he was \u201cmentally weak,\u201d\u00a0findings slammed Wednesday by his heartbroken family who blamed bullying at work.<\/p>\n<p>Kyaw Zin Win, a 26-year-old librarian at Myanmar Imperial University, took his own life in June.<\/p>\n<p>His\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/myanmarmix.com\/en\/articles\/myanmar-librarian-dies-by-suicide-after-homophobic-bullying\">final social media post<\/a>\u00a0displayed the mocking comments and photos from colleagues he said had forcibly outed him before making his life miserable.<\/p>\n<p>The university apologised to his family and suspended three members of staff identified in screenshots.<\/p>\n<p>On Wednesday an inquiry by the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission said it had concluded the university and its staff were not to blame for the death.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAbsolutely no evidence could be found he was bullied,\u201d commissioner Yu Lwin Aung told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>He instead placed responsibility for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/myanmarmix.com\/en\/articles\/at-the-funeral-of-a-gay-librarian-myanmars-lgbt-movement-unites\">the death<\/a>\u00a0on Kyaw Zin Win\u2019s \u201cmentally weak\u201d state.<\/p>\n<p>Kyaw Zin Win\u2019s aunt had not yet seen the report, but said\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/myanmarmix.com\/en\/articles\/inquiry-launched-after-suicide-of-bullied-gay-myanmar-man\">the commission<\/a>\u00a0was \u201cwrong\u201d if it denied her nephew had been forcibly outed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI repeatedly told them he was bullied,\u201d Mya Lay Ngwe said.<\/p>\n<p>Kyaw Zin Win\u2019s plea \u201cnot to be reborn\u201d in a country \u201cwhere superiors oppress those under them\u201d was shared thousands of times on Facebook.<\/p>\n<p>Many people changed their profile pictures to a black circle edged in rainbow colours.<\/p>\n<p>The commission does not have power to instigate legal proceedings, yet rights groups hoped a damning report would have been a turning point in their struggle.<\/p>\n<p>Same-sex relations remain illegal under colonial-era legislation and there is no anti-discrimination law.<\/p>\n<p>LGBTQ campaign group Colors Rainbow said it had feared the commission might whitewash the suicide.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis highlights how our current laws are failing us,\u201d said co-director Hla Myat Tun.<\/p>\n<p>The university could not be reached for comment and it is unclear what will happen to the suspended staff.<\/p>\n<p>In recent years space has been opening up for the LGBTQ community.<\/p>\n<p>An annual LGBTQ festival was held in a public park last year for the first time and this year saw the country\u2019s first-ever \u201cPride Boat Parade\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Rights groups have often blasted the commission for lacking the political will and independence to protect abuse victims, especially when the military is involved.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/myanmarmix.com\/en\/author\/afp\">AFP<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>14 August 20191.5K11 A probe into the death of a gay Myanmar man which cast a spotlight on the marginalised community concluded he was \u201cmentally weak,\u201d\u00a0findings slammed Wednesday by his heartbroken family who blamed bullying at work. Kyaw Zin Win, a 26-year-old librarian at Myanmar Imperial University, took his own life in June. His\u00a0final social [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3682,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3680\/revisions\/3682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}