HIV Prevention: Hypocrisy Too Kills
On 21st of February, the 2nd Chiang Mai Gay Pride Parade had to be called off following a stand-off with a small group of “Rak Chiang Mai 51″ red-shirted pro-Thaksin demonstrators who objected to the event taking place in a public space.
According to The Nation, “The protesters launched verbal attacks through a megaphone saying the event tarnished the city’s reputation.” The previous day, “a leading member of the “Rak Chiang Mai 51″ group said local residents disagreed with the parade as it was against the old city’s culture and could tarnish its image. He said such an event should be held in Phuket or Pattaya, which were tourist entertainment cities. He said if the organisers wanted to spread the message about Aids then that should have been the main focus of the parade, not homosexuality. “Chiang Mai people cannot accept this and will stop the parade by all means, even violence.”"
Such comments and protests threatening to use of violence are shocking and particularly infuriating when Thailand is on the verge of a second wave of HIV and when it has finally been acknowledged that Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) are more vulnerable to HIV infection. The cancellation of a benign and anticipated event by the “Rak Chiang Mai 51” is a reminder that hypocrisy is still a powerful force driving the HIV epidemic.
From the start of the HIV epidemic, the “cultural argument” has often been used to brush away if not to deny the existence and the threat posed by HIV. The words of a Thai government official are often quoted as an early cultural reaction to the epidemics: “The general public need not be alarmed. Thai-to-Thai transmission is not in evidence.”
Cultural relativism, the idea that some people don’t behave (or do behave) in a particular way because it is not (or because it is) in their culture, has been and is still a major obstacle to prevent the spread of HIV. It is expressed both externally and internally. In “Sex at the Margin” author Laura Agustin recalls how information about oral sex was not included in an HIV information leaflet for West Africans sex workers in Spain because “it appears that it [oral sex] doesn’t form part of the culture of the group to which the leaflet is directed” a decision supported by a doctor from an association of Equatorial Guineans who added “That’s right, we don’t do that”.
The sanctimonious reasoning behind the Rak Chiang Mai 51 opposition to the Gay Parade is that homosexuality or Men having Sex with Men is not part of the “Chiang Mai Culture”. It is that such behaviour does not happen in the North of Thailand, but is, or rather should be, limited to entertainment areas which incidentally cater for foreign tourists. It implies that this is not something “Thai” but something provided to tourists, to foreigners. Rak Chiang Mai 51 (“Love Chiang Mai 08″) revives the argument that “the general (Thai) public does not do that”.
Accordingly and unsurprisingly the famous Welcome to Thailand song does not refer to this cultural aspect of Thailand; happy time in Thailand can be found in visiting temples and old cities, not in Gay parade or in the company of Chiang Mai bar girls/boys.
What this cultural relativism denies is that beauty pageants have existed for a very long time and that they bring together all kind of people, including Kathoye. The annual Miss AC/DC contest held in Bangkok is a landmark alternative to Miss World. This historical component of Thai culture is not confined to the capital and neither is what some perceive as “tarnishing” Thai culture. Chiang Mai has a thriving night life that does not only include bar girls as one would find in Pattaya and Phuket but also MSM venues scattered across town.
The Rak Chiang Mai 51 hypocrisy, and that of others, pushes away further elements of the population which need to come forward in the open, which need to be able to access information about HIV and which need to be able to live their life without the fear of being kept behind closed doors because it is allegedly not part of the “National Culture”.
One of the last barrier in HIV prevention is stigma. Like hypocrisy, stigma is a powerful force driving the epidemic and it is often born out of hypocrisy. By denying facts of life, hypocrisy too kills.
[email_link]
Photo © Chiang Mai Bar Girl, Miss AC/DC 2007 and Ubon Ratchathani Candle Festival
Mr Gay China Pageant falls victim of expected success...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Howdy Roger.
So..”Thai-to-Thai transmission is not in evidence?” WTF is that? Ignorance like that at the upper levels is the reason they are in danger. Just crazy.
Keep on moving people. Nothing to see here!
There are nagging reports that a prominent Gay activist did in fact sabotage the March. In Counterpunch Counterpunch Steve Ault wrote,
“A dispute erupted between Natee and organizers of the Chiang Mai 2009 Gay Pride Festival, ostensibly over the character and plans of the event. It was not a debate about bare-breasted women or of floats transporting giant phalluses. Rather, many of the participants viewed the objections raised by Natee as, in fact, a red herring: the real controversy was over leadership and control rather than political substance.
Appealing to local authorities to cancel and forbid the parade, Natee went so far as to call a meeting of various local officials where he publicly denounced the forthcoming event as well as its organizers. Considerable media were in attendance. In the end, the authorities permitted the event to take place. With ever increasing publicity over the dispute, a national television debate between the two sides raised it yet higher. And with Natee’s oratorical skills in full bloom, many viewers became convinced that the gay pride parade would somehow “defile” the culture of Chiang Mai.
Ironically, Natee comes across more as a conservative homophobe in this debate than as a premiere gay activist.”
An article on Fridae.com reported a similar though less obvious meddling by Natee and commentators made the same allegation.
Leave your response!