“You may have heard that Thailand is a paradise for transgender people. We have the beauty queens. The cabaret shows. But you don’t see the negative side of how we’re treated. And I want to make sure my sisters don’t experience what I went through.” It’s a Saturday in central Bangkok, and Jetsada Taesombat, better …
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Last year, I conducted research on how sex worker-led organisations are dealing with the issue of human trafficking. I interviewed members of 13 different sex worker-led organisations in 13 different countries. At least eight of my respondents were sex workers themselves. The interviews addressed how the respondents defined and approached the topic of human trafficking, …
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After three years of the junta’s ‘returning happiness’ mission, the country’s poor and ethnic minorities are still suffering from the junta’s ‘return the forest’ policy while the junta opens up more land for investors and cuts environmental regulations for big business. “In the next 10 years, the suspension of land rights will be a big …
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Citing further legal protections for LGBT people, the Thai authorities have introduced a bill to ‘certify’ gender identity. LGBT experts, however, have asked why they need the state to approve their gender identity at all. On 14 March 2017, leading LGBT activists and legal officers from the Office of Women’s Affairs and Family Development (OWAFD) …
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Thai transgender activist Nada Chaiyajit completed her undergraduate studies in August, and two months later, school officials told her 12 classmates – all men – that their graduation certificates were ready. But her college, the University of Phayao in northern Thailand, would not issue her documents because she submitted a photo in which she looks …
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