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Members of the
lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community dance in a circle during a
Pride Week event last year in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Kork district.
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LGBT Cambodians face a
formidable level of prejudice and discrimination, which for many means a life
lived in secrecy and isolation, a major new study of attitudes has revealed.
The survey of almost
1,600 people, straight and LGBT, across seven provinces, published yesterday,
found that a third of the 478 LGBT people questioned had not come out to a
single person. Of those who took the risk, the vast majority confided only to
close friends and family.
“We discovered that
the situation for LGBT people is not as bad as it was in the past, but there is
still discrimination,” said Da Ny, a representative of Rainbow Community
Kampuchea, which commissioned the report.
“We found for
instance, that it is still commonplace in Khmer for LGBT people to be referred
to as khteuy or PD [a French slang term for a pedophile], which are hurtful
pejorative terms.”
A fifth of LGBT
Cambodians questioned said they wished they were straight, the report says. In
addition, only 20 per cent of gay men and just over a third of lesbians who
have chosen to tell someone about their sexuality have come out to their
current partner or lover, indicating a significant number were trapped in
straight relationships.
Among the 1,085
straight people questioned, 45 per cent described themselves as supportive of
LGBT people, 43 per cent opposed and 12 per cent neutral. But negative
attitudes are seemingly amplified when the question theoretically involved
respondents’ children.
Close to half of those
opposed said they would reject their child if the youngster revealed they were
LGBT, while close to a fifth of straight respondents who were parents said they
would force their LGBT children to date the opposite sex. Those respondents
also said they would consider obliging an LGBT child to marry, even though
forced marriage is illegal in Cambodia.
Somewhat
incongruously, when asked what came into their mind when they heard the term
“LGBT people”, a majority said “it’s in their nature” or “they are born that
way”.
The report’s authors
called on the government to allow same sex couples to marry, to make them
eligible for family books and to grant them adoption rights. It also
recommended transgender people be allowed to change their travel and other
identification documents to reflect their chosen gender.
Council of Ministers
spokesman Phay Siphan declined to comment on the government’s official stance
yesterday, but said, on a personal level, he was sympathetic to most of the
recommendations, and suggested campaigners seek to establish a legal challenge
to secure marriage rights for LGBT couples.
“LGBT people go to
work and pay taxes like everyone else, so have the right to participate fully
in society,” he said. “If a gay couple ... wants a marriage certificate, they
should apply for one, and if it’s refused, take their case to court.”
