Mandalay Division\u2019s Border and Security Affairs minister has vowed to crackdown on LGBT couples that engage in \u201cinappropriate\u201d public displays of affection and pledged an increased presence at the city\u2019s moat and western dock areas.<\/p>\n
In a statement that Burma\u2019s leading LGBT rights group Equality Myanmar labelled homophobic, minister Myint Kyu characterised homosexuality as \u201cunacceptable\u201d and threatened to detain and \u201ceducate\u201d gay men.<\/p>\n
Responding to a fellow divisional MP\u2019s concerns regarding \u201cinappropriate\u201d behaviour by members of Mandalay\u2019s LGBT community, Myint Kyu praised previous hardline actions by Mandalay police\u00a0and promised to continue a\u00a0tough stance.<\/p>\n
\u201cAuthorities have been to check on some gay people after being informed they were acting inappropriately with young men and detained nine of them. After finding out they did not commit any crime, the officials educated them and handed them back to their parents on a bond,\u201d said the minister.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, the existence of gay men who assume they are women is unacceptable and therefore we are constantly seeing actions to have the gays detained at police stations, educate them, then hand them back to their parents. I would like to respond to the MP who raised her concerns that we will be including in our operations the areas she mentioned as a special case.\u201d<\/p>\n
The issue was raised by Tin Tin Mar, an MP from Chanayetharzan township. She labelled gay people as \u201cdisgraceful\u201d and argued that they \u201cfuel crimes\u201d by engaging in \u201cinappropriate acts.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI learnt the gay people who assume they are women have been acting inappropriately with young men and this is not only disgraceful to our city but can also possibly fuel crime,\u201d she told reporters after the conclusion of the parliamentary session.<\/p>\n
In 2013 police in Mandalay were accused of the arbitrary arrest of LGBT citizens before beating them, verbally abusing them and forcing them into humiliating positions.<\/p>\n
That year, Equality Myanmar led an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to sue the officers believed to be responsible.<\/p>\n
The organisation\u2019s founder, Aung Myo Min, now says he is worried that the pledge that Myint Kyu gave to parliament on Wednesday sets the scene for continued abuse of Mandalay\u2019s LGBT community at the hands of police.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m worried about these homophobic actions and plans against homosexual people in Mandalay because police will target the LGBT group under the guise of the rule of law,\u201d Aung Myo Min said.<\/p>\n
Homosexual sex is effectively outlawed in Burma under Section 377 of the Penal Code, which carries a sentence between 10 years and life imprisonment. It is a law that rights groups such as Equality Myanmar and The Myanmar LGBT Rights Network have rejected as an archaic block to social equality.<\/p>\n
Yet Aung Myo Min points a different law, which he says is more regularly used by police to maintain a sweeping mandate to arrest gay and transgender people.<\/p>\n
\u201cAuthorities usually use Article 15(d) of the Police Act, which allows the arrest of somebody found committing a \u2018suspicious act\u2019 or somebody found in a \u2018suspicious place\u2019. It\u2019s known as the \u2018darkness law\u2019 because it allows police to arrest anyone simply for being in a dark place. So that law is commonly used against LGBT people as well as sex workers. It is an article that has been used since the British colonial time to arrest anyone,\u201d Aung Myo Min said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo actually they are not enforcing the law, they are abusing it.\u201d<\/p>\n