{"id":4288,"date":"2020-10-20T13:41:03","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T07:11:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/new-eng\/?p=4288"},"modified":"2021-01-21T13:41:59","modified_gmt":"2021-01-21T07:11:59","slug":"growing-visibility-for-myanmars-lgbtqi-community-ahead-of-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/?p=4288","title":{"rendered":"GROWING VISIBILITY FOR MYANMAR\u2019S LGBTQI COMMUNITY AHEAD OF ELECTION"},"content":{"rendered":"

Next month, Myanmar\u2019s first openly gay candidate will contest the country\u2019s general election in what could be a watershed moment for LGBTQI rights in the socially conservative Southeast Asian nation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

As with many other former British colonies throughout Asia, homosexuality remains criminalised in Myanmar by way of archaic laws that are remnants of colonial rule. At the core of these laws is section 377 of the Penal Code which makes \u201cunnatural sex\u201d a criminal offence that is punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment, although the law is not strictly enforced.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough section 377 does not specifically mention same sex relations, it is assumed that homosexuality falls under the broad definition of \u2018unnatural sex\u2019 and the police have used it [along with other laws]to harass or bribe LGBTQI people,\u201d said veteran LGBTQI rights campaigner, Aung Myo Min, in an interview with\u00a0Star Observer<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In 2013, the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Aung San Suu Kyi,\u00a0called for the decriminalisation of homosexuality<\/a>\u00a0in Myanmar, saying that its criminalisation was hampering efforts to treat HIV amongst gay men in the country. Since 2015, the NLD has held a majority in the country\u2019s parliament, but five years on and homosexuality remains criminalised.\u00a0Frustration over the failure of elected members of parliament to take action to improve the rights of LGBTQI people led to Myo Min Htun deciding to join the People\u2019s Pioneer Party and stand for election as Myanmar\u2019s first openly gay candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe voted for MP candidates and secured them their seats in parliament,\u201d he told\u00a0Myanmar Now<\/a><\/em>\u00a0in September. \u201cBut they were nowhere to be found when we needed their help. So I decided to stand for parliament myself instead of asking them for help.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a regional MP, Myo Min Htun will be unable to directly work on repealing section 377 if he is elected to parliament, but says that he will instead use his position to tackle police abuse of LGBTQI people, particularly in his seat in Myanmar\u2019s second largest city, Mandalay, where there have been many instances of LGBTQI people being wrongfully arrested, beaten and abused by the police.<\/p>\n

Trans women are especially vulnerable to police abuse and have reportedly been subjected to torture and sexual assault at the hands of police.\u00a0In one instance, a group of transgender women were rounded up by the police, had their clothes ripped off\u00a0in public and were forced to show\u00a0intimate parts of their body, before being taken to the police station, where they were touched inappropriately and\u00a0made\u00a0to dance erotically in front of the police and other inmates.<\/p>\n

Hla Myat Tun, the Deputy Director of Colors Rainbow Myanmar, told\u00a0Star Observer<\/em>\u00a0that trans women are often seen as easy targets by the police, who have arrest quotas that they need to meet, because their appearance and identity makes them visible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they are not going to fill their quota, the police will make cases against trans women and fill the quota that way,\u201d said Hla Myat Tun.\u00a0But any legislative\u00a0change\u00a0to improve the rights of Myanmar\u2019s LGBTQI community won\u2019t come easy, with 25% of parliamentary seats reserved for members of the country\u2019s staunchly conservative military.<\/p>\n

Working in Myo Min Htun\u2019s favour is the growing support for LGBTQI rights among Myanmar\u2019s political parties. The ruling National League for Democracy, which is expected to be returned to power at the election, has committed itself to eliminating discrimination against LGBTQI people as part of its 2020 election manifesto. Other political parties like the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy and the Myanmar National Congress Party have made similar pledges.<\/p>\n

Within society, there are also signs of softening attitudes towards LGBTQI people\u00a0following the tragic case of 25 year old\u00a0Kyaw Zin Win<\/a>\u00a0who took his life last year because of homophobic bullying in his workplace. Hla Myat Tun says Kyaw Zin Win\u2019s death shocked the country and galvanised support for LGBTQI people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really big news and people were really emotional and showing their support towards LGBTI kids and a lot of families have stood up in support of LGBTQI equality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Will this be enough to see the first openly gay candidate elected to Myanmar\u2019s parliament next month?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know yet how many voters will accept [an openly gay candidate]because we are at the first stage of [political]visibility and testing the waters,\u201d Aung Myo Min said. \u201cBut it\u2019s a breakthrough because LGBTQI issues are never on the political agenda in Myanmar and it\u2019s a first step that shows LGBTQI people that they can be part of the elections as candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Source;https:\/\/www.starobserver.com.au\/news\/growing-visibility-for-myanmars-lgbtqi-community-ahead-of-election\/198077?fbclid=IwAR0m4mEhg1klZXEvkVkmKus1W3X7vJyqIC4QmfOKnybxr-2KxPL4_cIJp8A<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Next month, Myanmar\u2019s first openly gay candidate will contest the country\u2019s general election in what could be a watershed moment for LGBTQI rights in the socially conservative Southeast Asian nation. As with many other former British colonies throughout Asia, homosexuality remains criminalised in Myanmar by way of archaic laws that are remnants of colonial rule. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4289,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[60],"class_list":["post-4288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-lgbt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4288","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=4288"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4290,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4288\/revisions\/4290"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/equalitymyanmar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}