Cultural Ministry Irate Over Gay Civil Servants, Blaming TV Media as a
Distributing Source
Rath, June 4, 2004
Thailand
The Cultural Ministry has declared an all-out war on
people who have homosexual behaviors, e.g. transvestites, gays, lesbians or
dykes. The Deputy Minister has announced that they will absolutely not accept
these abnormal people to work in the department.
The ministry has prepared to overhaul the system by
wiping out civil servants and officials who are either handsome women or
queenie men to set it as an example for the society. This changed value of the
society is due to the broadcast of transvestite actors by the TV media,
causing a fad for people to emulate.
The ministry department has started an offensive campaign
in disciplining homosexuals as a result of inappropriate behaviors
conspicuously displayed through various media which are bad examples for the
posterity, by beginning to screen its civil servants and officials.
Mr Kla Somtrakul, Deputy Cultural Minister, revealed on
June 3, 2004 that the current campaign against the distribution of
pornographic materials is satisfactory. Parents, guardians and students alike
have begun to look into this problem caused by pornography, including other
resources from the Internet. Another heart-burdening problem is that there is
an inappropriate display of affection among homosexual youngsters, be it
between women and women, men and men, or gay groups, katoeys, or lesbians
regardless of whether they are in public places or workplaces, unashamed of
the eyes of others. Also, there seems to be an increasing number of these
homosexuals, partly as a result of the media that has become more accepting,
especially soap operas with homosexual cast that may set a negative example
for children.
The deputy cultural minister was quoted as saying that
this homosexual trend has nowadays become a fashion eventuating in youngsters
form cliques at various schools fighting over their lovers, the same pattern
of delinquency found among university students. Female students fight over
other females whereas their male counterparts get into brawls over other
males. In addition, many other prostituting homosexual groups negatively
affect Thai culture. These behaviors are not normal and although are
considered private rights and do not cause trouble to others, they should only
be expressed in private places or personal homes and necking, touching or
frottage in public places such as Chatuchak park, Lumpini park or Sanam Luang
park or even in educational institutes should be avoided. Although some
same-sex groups have quoted the Constitution as granting them rights, the
Cultural Department cannot accept it and would like to stand on the opposite
side.
Mr Kla continued saying that the Cultural Department
would take a serious stance on this campaign regarding homosexual behaviors.
Although the Department can’t arrest homosexuals or levy any legal
punishment on them the same way as other pornographic distributors, it
encourages the public to keep the homosexual pandemic under control and
prohibit the media from broadcasting any homosexual acts by sending a letter
to every TV station for cooperation. The Cultural Department itself will be
stricter in its recruitment policy by not allowing people with homosexual
behaviors to work at the department. A stricter recruiting system must be set
up because in the past the behaviors of homosexual officials were not
initially obvious and it took some time to know their true nature. The
Cultural Department should be a role model for the society or else nobody
would listen to it any longer if they themselves cultivate these people.
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