Straighten up, says Culture Ministry

The Ministry of Culture is at it again, protecting the morals of Thai society. Now it is asking television stations to cut down on images portraying homosexual behaviour, according to a story in The Nation.

What is sure to be a blow to Kingdom's gay-friendly reputation, the story has been picked up by the AP.

Here's The Nation story:

Dr Kla Somtrakul, deputy permanent secretary for culture, said some TV shows clearly showed homosexual behaviour and if unchecked some of them could cross the line to obscenity. Kla also dismissed as misquotes recent press accounts reporting him saying that no homosexuals would be hired at the ministry.

Television producers said they would cooperate, although they played down the ministry's concerns.

"There is a third sex in the world and TV shows merely reflect reality," said Yutthana Lophanpaibul, an openly gay director. "Maybe there are too many male comedians dressing in women's costumes. If so, then they should cut them down."

Yutthana said he did not believe that television would arouse "sexual deviation" among youths because homosexuals were what they were because of hormones or different sexual tastes.

Kla said the ministry is concerned about the effects on society of programming featuring gays.

"Many parents told me that they are worried that their children would have sexually deviant behaviour after viewing such behaviours on TV," he said.

Thakonkiet Weerawan, a television producer from Exact Ltd, said he would have to go back and look for excessive amounts of such behaviour portrayed in his dramas and cut them out if there was too much. But he urged the ministry to be understanding.

"You can't just get rid of all of it because TV producers also have work ethics and if the message was too much, society would judge it. Also, parents should guide their kids," he added.

Itthipat Rattanapanu, a producer from RS Promotion Ltd, said cutting all shows with homosexual people was impossible because it would ruin the flavour of the shows.

"I do not believe that viewers would copy what they see on TV," he said, adding that the homosexual roles were there to spice up the dramas, not to convince people to copy them.

Dr Taveesilpa Wisanuyothin, spokesman with Thailand's Mental Health Department, said the cause of homosexuality possibly results from an abnormal state during pregnancy due to hormone and chemistry in brain. Watching homosexual behaviour on television could spur people with homosexual tendencies to act on their urges, he said.

In related news, Kla denied saying that he would bar homosexuals from working at the Ministry of Culture.

"I have no intention to stop homosexual persons from being recruited by the ministry like many Thai newspapers said because there is no such rule and they do not cause great damage to society," Kla said

Although there are no rules prohibiting homosexuals from working at the ministry, they had to be careful about expressing themselves as the ministry is the country's cultural watchdog, said Anurak Jureemas, the Minister of Culture. He said individuals have the right to express themselves, but they must also respect the rules of society.

According to a source at the ministry, people are hired depending on their qualifications for the positions they apply for, not their sexual orientation. Even if an official wanted to have sex-change operation, they would not have to ask for permission from their superior as it was an individual's right.

Kamolseth Kendkanreu, secretary to Fah Si Rung Association of Thailand, a homosexual association, said the association was happy that Dr Kla refuted his statement that he would disallow homosexuals from working for him.

The Associated Press article offers some more background:

Although Thailand is a conservative Buddhist society, homosexuality and cross-dressing is widely tolerated and transvestite cabaret shows are a popular tourist attraction.

Television portrayal of gays is usually comic in nature with male actors appearing in women's clothes or effeminate male characters prancing about while waving hands, fluttering eyelashes and talking with exaggerated minced accents.

Last year, the Thai military decided to exempt gay men and transvestites from the draft, fearing they could undermine the armed forces. In the past, gays and transvestites have been drafted but later fired after being found unable to adjust to army life.

Homosexual issues have been widely dealt with in Thai films. The sports comedy Iron Ladies, about a gay and transsexual men's volleyball team that won the Thai national championship in the 1990s, was a huge international hit a few years ago. That movie spawned a prequel that was in local theaters last year.

In 2002 there was Saving Private Tootsie, about an airplane full of gay entertainers crashing in the jungle on the Burmese border. A team of elite Thai troops, featuring veteran actor Sorapong Chatree as a homophobic sergeant, goes to the rescue.

This past year, Beautiful Boxer has hit the film festival circuit. It's a biopic about a champion male Thai boxer who got a sex change operation.

I've seen Iron Ladies and Private Tootsie. While both offered up plenty of gay stereotypes for the sake of entertainment (Tootsie had a great sight gag of a transsexual's silicone breasts getting hit by gunfire), there was also an overwhelming message of tolerance and acceptance for gays as well - that sexual orientation doesn't really have anything to do with anything that really matters.

But the folks at the Culture Ministry, too busy being a "cultural watchdog" instead of fostering the development of culture must not have gotten the message.