Gays in Vietnam seek an identity
Although relatively free from discrimination, some Vietnamese
gays feel their existence is ignored rather than accepted
With his pink lipstick, eye makeup and black nail varnish, Ti prefers not to
shake hands and instead raises his arm into the classic, cliched limp-wristed
position.
"I knew I was gay from the age of five or six," said the 27-year-old, sitting in
a coffee shop in Vietnam's southern business capital of Ho Chi Minh City.
"I started wearing girls' clothes at first, and then when I was about 14 I
started wearing makeup."
Ti stands out everywhere he goes in the city, whether he is with other gay
men or not. "I don't care what people think. I don't feel discriminated against
anyway. I've never been attacked or verbally abused," he said.
While cross-dressers are few and far between in the bustling metropolis,
homosexuals are not.
Two years ago, Chung A, the head of the country's anti-AIDS, prostitution
and drugs committee, declared that the number of gays in Vietnam could be
counted on the fingers of his two hands. By March this year, Chung had
changed his tune. "The number of homosexuals has increased a lot and the
issue of AIDS prevention in this group needs to be addressed," he was
quoted by the Lao Dong newspaper as saying.
The dramatic increase in the number of openly gay men in Ho Chi Minh City
and Hanoi has sparked considerable media interest, with most newspapers
labeling homosexuals as being either ill or victims of a current trend.
In the women's magazine The Gioi Phu Nu, a married man wrote into an
agony-aunt column in May to express his distress at having fallen in love with
a young man.
The response was less than sympathetic. "It's fortunate you and the young
man are conscious of your `horrific love affair' and that you want to find a
way out," said the magazine's advice columnist.
"I suggest you find a doctor who specializes in this field, be brave, admit your
sickness and get cured."
The family magazine Tiep Thi Va Gia Dinh also did not mince words on the
topic of homosexuality.
"Loving people of the same sex is deviant behavior that is incompatible with
the good morals and time-honored customs of Vietnam," it asserted in a
March issue.
But Le Hoang, the popular director of the controversial sex and drugs movie
Bar Girls, struck a softer tone when he answered questions about
homosexuality on a Vietnamese Web site in May.
In response to a man who said he could tolerate neither the genuinely "ill"
gays nor the fashion victims, Hoang said: "Why? Are you gay yourself? Gays
are ill, but there is no law saying ill people should be punished."
"Qualities such as morality, talent and dignity do not depend on sexuality. In
Denmark, gays can marry. Well, Vietnam may not be Denmark, but we're
not back in the Roman times either."
Outward discrimination of the kind sometimes found in Western countries is
rare in Vietnam, possibly because homosexuality does not yet exist as a firm
concept in Vietnam and also because a large degree of same-sex tactility is
accepted as normal in Southeast Asian cultures.
"Gay identity is not well established in Vietnam. A man could have sex with
another man and not consider himself gay," said Donn Colby, a Fulbright
Research Scholar who conducted a survey entitled Men Who Have Sex
With Men (MSM) in Ho Chi Minh City in 2001. "Because of this the number
of men who experiment with sex with other men is probably higher here than
in the West."
Those who do identify themselves as gay are careful about how, and to
whom, they reveal their sexuality.
Tam, a 24-year-old graphic design artist, has never told his parents, fellow
students or work colleagues that he is gay. "If you don't officially announce it,
then people are obliged to treat you equally," said the slightly-built amateur
DJ.
There are no laws or regulations on homosexuality or homosexuals in
Vietnam, and no mention of gays as a risk group for HIV and AIDS.
Donn Colby believes the omission of homosexuals from public HIV
prevention messages has encouraged MSM to underestimate their
vulnerability to infection.
The misconception is worrying, given that Colby's survey of 219 MSM
concluded that members of this group have multiple sexual partners, do not
use condoms regularly and are at high risk of contracting HIV.
"But things are changing slowly," said Colby. "A programme (funded by the
Ford Foundation) on men's sexual health in Nha Trang includes MSM."
Male prostitution and public sex venues are widespread in Ho Chi Minh City
and Hanoi. Zoos, parks, lakes, swimming pools and saunas have all been
identified by state-run media as venues for sex between men.
But while police find it hard to take action against gay activity in public
places, they move decisively on male brothels. One of Ho Chi Minh City's
few male brothels was closed down last year and its owner slapped with a
10-year prison sentence.
The mainstream gay scene in the southern metropolis is also facing hard
times, with its only gay club shuttered, ostensibly for refurbishment.
Minh, a 24 year-old architect with a French boyfriend, expressed his
frustration at the gay community's lack of clear identity.
"I just think we should think more about us as a group. We should let people
know that we exist," he said.
"Coming out is not enough. We need a voice."
Agence France Presse - August 04, 2003.
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