The challenges of LGBTQ communities in Myanmar

Dr Pyae Phyo Kyaw

Growing up as an LGBTQ in Myanmar where homophobia and heteronormativity are deeply rooted is very challenging. The idea of ‘guiding someone back to the right path’ is actually bullying and torturing LGBTQs both physically and mentally. The first thing you are likely to face after coming out as a non-heterosexual person is rejection from your family. Most parents regard their LGBTQ children as a shame for the family and, to suppress them, they use physical and verbal abuse, harassment in public, and even kick them out of the house.

Most of these ideas are derived from religious propaganda. Some monks teach people that being LGBTQ is a divine punishment for the sins you committed in your past life, specifically rape and adultery. This kind of teaching automatically brands us as born rapists, making people think that LGBTQs deserve discrimination and harassment. Their brainwashing is so strong that even LGBTQs themselves believe it and have to live with a sense of guilt and shame for their whole lives with their will to fight back being utterly crushed. The majority of people regard these ideas as a part of religion and culture and pass them on to the next generation from a very young age. They often ask young kids, ‘What are you? A pervert or a gay?’, and implant the idea that being a pervert is better than being gay. Some even use the same question to encourage their adolescent sons and brothers to sexually harass women.

They also stigmatize LGBTQs as bearers of HIV. Some even believe that if you come out as gay, you will inevitably acquire HIV and AIDS no matter how you live. It might sound funny and unreasonable but I have seen a woman crying for this belief after her son came out.

The culture of discrimination and marginalisation of minority groups is instilled into our heads since childhood. It is not uncommon for kids of minority groups to be bullied at school. Children bully gay kids. They joke about the names of kids from ethnic minority groups. They make fun of kids from different religions. They body-shame others. There is literally no one to stop them as some teachers are also part of the bullying. Only a few of them teach their students that bullying is wrong.

It would be hard for some people to accept the reality but this has been going on for decades as long as I can remember, especially before the 2010s when people began to have more access to the internet. Many LGBTQs are forced into the closet this way. I was once one of them. I pretended to be a straight man during my university years for fear of being exposed. It was so painful to keep silent and fake-laugh while my friends were bullying other gays. So, I decided to come out once I believed I was strong enough to live on my own, and that was after becoming a doctor.

In the earlier days of coming out, I received a lot of negative comments. Surprisingly, most of them came from old closet-gay doctors. Instead of encouraging me, they blamed me for not following their code: ‘Don’t let people see even when they know what’s underneath’. This kind of internalised oppression within the LGBTQ society itself has been going on for years, preventing their ability to unite and fight. It is partly because LGBTQs are stereotyped to certain occupations. For example, LGBTQs are considered unworthy or inappropriate for occupations like teachers, doctors, actors, or politicians which people believe to be noble or influential because they don’t want to give respect to a gay teacher or doctor and they think being LGBTQ is infectious. They believe LGBTQs are only fit to be makeup artists, designers, or drag queens. So, we are given only two options, to accept the stereotyping and give up our dreams or to suppress ourselves and hide in the closet. That’s why the old doctors are so afraid of their code being exposed. You can see two different discriminations here. One is against sexual orientation and one is against occupations.

Workplace bullying based on gender and sexual orientation are also common in Myanmar. Five years ago, when my boyfriend and I worked together in a hospital, we were denied assignments to the same duty shift while they allowed other heterosexual couples to work together. Hospital authorities unashamedly announced that we were denied this right because we were gays. After two years, these biased and unfair treatments reached the point where we had to move to another job. Luckily, it was in 2019 when BL (Boy Love) series became popular among young people. They encouraged us and helped us to get through those hard times. You can see that even though some people supported us, there were no laws that could protect us from such discrimination and it remains the same today. We did not even succeed in abolishing Penal code 377 which can be used at will to oppress us during the term of the NLD government.

There are 3 major things that changed Myanmar people’s perspective and opinions towards LGBTQ issues. The first thing is better access to the internet after the democratic transition. People started to learn about the outside world. Various TV shows, movies, and music from other countries became popular in Myanmar. When they saw news of their favourite celebrities coming out as gays, their belief of LGBTQs being disgusting was shaken for the very first time in life. People got more curious about our existence. We, LGBTQs also attained greater self-awareness, as voices of dissent began to appear here and there. But these changes were far from enough.

The second has a lot more impact on social acceptance of LGBTQs, especially for young male gays. That is the introduction of the BL series. Their popularity skyrocketed and received so many fans. Many people began to understand us. They sympathised with our burden and hardships. They started looking for real-life gay couples to support. Situations become a lot easier for young gays to come out and be themselves. But BL series are not enough to repel the long-established ‘homophobic’ religious misbeliefs. One major drawback is these series are only about handsome gay men. So, they solely support gay men and try to segregate them from the LGBTQ society. They misinterpret the terminology, as ‘homosexual’ is thought to refer to cisgender gay men, and ‘gay’ is thought to refer to transgender. One popular concept is, ‘They are homosexuals, not gays. So, they are innocent in their past lives, and they don’t deserve discrimination’. This is indirectly accusing transgender people of crimes they never committed. In fact, no one knows what we were in our past lives, let alone have the capacity to say that we committed these crimes. They can’t even prove that past lives exist. It endorses transphobia tremendously even among the LGBTQ society and transgenders become the most vulnerable group to extreme discrimination. Little knowledge is as dangerous as no knowledge. That is why we need to properly educate the audience without intoxicating them.

The last factor with regards to LGBTQ discrimination is the 2021 military coup. It is indeed the worst thing that has happened in the last few decades, causing thousands of people to lose their lives and millions of people to become homeless.  Many others have ended up in prison including our LGBTQ friends. After the democratic transition, people experienced what freedom is like, and now they have been stripped of all their rights and freedom again. So, they resist. For LGBTQs, this is not something new. We have been under oppression by the majority our whole lives. Now, everyone is under oppression by the military. We are fighting against a common foe and it unites us. For decades, people have been using the word ‘gay’ to symbolise wickedness, cowardice, and failure. We see the revolution as an opportunity to prove that we are also strong, brave, righteous, peace-loving individuals and we are not inferior to anyone in any aspect. That is the reason many LGBTQs joined the revolution. Action speaks louder than words. You can see LGBTQs in the protests or volunteering at the IDP camps, or even in the armed revolution, in every part of the revolution.

The military junta is extremely homophobic for toxic masculinity is their trait. Our LGBTQ friends receive the worst treatments in prison, which include verbal insults, beating, stripping naked in public, burning sensitive areas with the tip of a burning cigarette, and inserting things into private parts. There are closet gays in the military but we can’t rely on them. Instead of protecting LGBTQ prisoners, they follow the same code that old gay doctors use. They hide their secret by expressing homophobic behaviours in public. So, we know there is no safe place for us as long as the military holds the power.

My partner and I joined the revolution by volunteering at IDP camps in the Karenni State. We provided medical services and other humanitarian aid. Some parts of the Karenni State are so remote and the local communities are so conservative. You will hardly find any openly gay person in those areas. I met some people whose sexual orientations are still in question. They don’t find the opposite sex attractive but they are not transgender either. They were confused at that time without knowing the possibility of being cisgender gay.

Symbolising ‘gay’ as being weak and cowardly also exists in those areas. In our earlier days at the camp, I used to hear people saying when young boys cried, ‘Are you gay? Why are you crying?’. They also described the Myanmar military soldiers as ‘gays’ for being despicable and lacking courage. After working together with us for some time, they stopped using such discriminatory words.

We educate them about gender and sexual orientation little by little. Having other LGBTQ volunteers across the state helped us achieve a better outcome. A mother even said, ‘I used to pray to God. If I were to have children, I won’t ask for other gifts, please let them be straight. Now, I no longer pray like that. There is nothing to lose if I were to have sons like you’. I felt so warm and happy when I heard those words. I will not say we successfully got rid of all prejudiced ideas about us but we were able to instill the idea into part of the society, that being different does not mean bad.

We cannot underestimate the deep-seated homophobia within Myanmar society, even among revolutionists. Some revolutionary artists make memes and cartoons about the junta’s head, drawing him as gay, wearing makeup, high heels, and women’s clothes. They often use phrases about gays and their sexual activities to mock the dictator. This does not mock the dictator, but rather insults us by comparing our existence to the loathsome vicious actions of the junta. Some artists took down their works after being criticised by our supporters. Some continue displaying homophobia proudly in the name of revolution. Under their social media posts, we can see comments like, ‘what’s wrong with describing someone so despicable as gay? We are not mocking you. We are mocking the junta’, which is so ironic.

Whenever we talk about acknowledging our rights and implementing them into laws while we are reforming our country, we receive some feedback like, ‘Just focus on the revolution. Acknowledging LGBTQ’s rights is not necessary at the moment. We can talk about it later’. I feel like being betrayed. Our country is rising up from the ground again. So, why later? Why don’t we build it the right way from the start?

In general, social acceptance and tolerance toward LGBTQs are getting better in Myanmar, in line with global trends. We have a lot more supporters right now compared to previous decades. Even though some of them have the wrong approach to supporting LGBTQs, we can guide them to the right track through proper education about gender equality and sexual orientation. Lastly, the 2021 military coup might become a game-changer for us. Although some fractions do not want to acknowledge us, we see hope for the decriminalisation of Penal Code Section 377 if the revolution succeeds. The NUG government has clearly shown its will to protect and acknowledge LGBTQ rights by appointing one of us as their minister of Human Rights.

It will not be easy at all to repel these century-old homophobic and heteronormative concepts deeply intertwined with our culture and religion. But we are seeing rays of hope. If we keep marching towards our goal with unwavering resolve, we will be able to create a safe place for everyone.