Governor Petitioned To Ban The Second Chiang Mai Gay Pride Parade

[sriracha john]

Can we stay more focused on the topic, and refrain from personal remarks? Thank you.

Can a request be made please for a mod to mop up the bile that spilled out so quickly after the above mod request?

you dont have a clue do you

Quite a few people have made the same observation at different times on different threads about our man in asia.

you dont have a clue do you :jerk:

Quite a few people have made the same observation at different times on different threads about our man in asia.

and almost 10000 posts of it

george needs a rule against nonsense.

you dont have a clue do you

Quite a few people have made the same observation at different times on different threads about our man in asia.

and almost 10000 posts of it

george needs a rule against nonsense.

Oh dear, not another jd bashing thread...

[jupiterandromeda]

Equally, the gay community should be responsible for policing the parade to ensure there are no display's of public affection or too sexually provocative acts that breach Thailand's moral code and give credence to some of the anti-parade arguments put forward in this thread.

Ballocks! There is no such thing as a gay "community." That is a myth. There are gay people and we are very diverse. Some of us will act in ways that are offensive just like any other kinds of people. Turn your bloody head away!

Your kind of talk reminds me of people who used to describe "Uncle Tom" type black American people as "a credit to their race." No, I for one reject that ancient kind of thinking. We should all dress up in dark suits and white shirts like Mormons, I suppose, huh? Why bother with a gay parade then?

If some man is so moved to kiss his boyfriend at a gay event in Thailand, do you think the street will explode if they do so?

of course ther is a gay community. you;re just not part of it.

The reason to parade and demonstrate is proven here every day with the lies and slanders hate and jus stupid old 'white massa' thinking that;s been going on forever.

[Jingthing]

of course ther is a gay community. you;re just not part of it.

Oh, I see. Where does one join up then exactly?

I really find the concept absurd. Gayness is a sexuality variation. If you accept the construct of gay community, then there is also a straight community. That's ridiculous.

Maybe we are splitting pubic hairs though. There are gay neighborhoods in some cities, so these neighborhoods could be called a gay community or a community of gays. But what of the gay person who lives a mile away. He is not part of that community. I realize there are public events that a small minority of gay people in the world get involved in, such as organizing gay parades. By your definition, is this small select group the gay community, while the quiet couple that watches Star Trek reruns and doesn't attend such events, they are not part of the community? Does just being gay make you part of the gay community (apparently not based on your comment)? So maybe you mean that gay communities comprise of the activist clique that any academic study will tell you is a tiny portion of all the homosexuals in the world.

Edited February 10, 2009 by Jingthing

[ilovecm]

Can we stay more focused on the topic, and refrain from personal remarks? Thank you.

agreed - lets focus on the chiang mai pride. i spoke to MPlus today and they are still planning for a parade - ensuring everyone remains polite. lets pass the word out. the parade is set to go. everyone gay str8 or inbetween are welcome - february 21

[Paagai]

you dont have a clue do you

Quite a few people have made the same observation at different times on different threads about our man in asia.

Thanks! Usually it's either people that don't understand Thailand, Thai politics, or believe that we never landed men on the moon! (sometimes it is all three in one person!)

but we have cleared up the TV kiss ... and the fact that Thais kiss in public (granted not Thais in intergenerational relationships etc ... but just regular Thai people ....)

Just had dinner with eight gay thai university students, a couple of whom are involved with the pride event. I showed them this thread, particularly the kissing discusion, and got the response: "another Farang who claims to know and understand Thailand, but is really only trying to impose his own misguided western values". "hope he won't be attending" they said.

Edited February 10, 2009 by Paagai

[Jingthing]

"hope he won't be attending"

Now I am confused. I thought everyone was welcome. BTW, what did the Thai uni students say about kissing?

[mbincm]

Can we stay more focused on the topic, and refrain from personal remarks? Thank you.

agreed - lets focus on the chiang mai pride. i spoke to MPlus today and they are still planning for a parade - ensuring everyone remains polite. lets pass the word out. the parade is set to go. everyone gay str8 or inbetween are welcome - february 21

Good Idea. I just got my copy of the local paper, no mention of the Gay Pride or the other events connected with it. Anyone know the reasons why?. Is the paper homophobic?, or is there another reason?.

[sriracha john]

^ probably because it and its sister publication in Pattaya are both pure <deleted>...

THAILAND: TRAVEL, EVENTS

Chiang Mai Gay Pride

Head up north later this month and chill out at Chiang Mai Gay Pride 2009. This year, the event is being held on February 21 at Tawan Trendy Mall on Changklan Road, with the LGBTI community and their pals partying as well as holding seminars on gay rights and health issues.

There's also a gay parade through Changklan and beauty contests.

For more information, call (053) 814 487 or visit www.MPlusThailand.com.

- The Nation / 2009-02-10

Edited February 10, 2009 by sriracha john

[endure]

you dont have a clue do you

Quite a few people have made the same observation at different times on different threads about our man in asia.

Thanks! Usually it's either people that don't understand Thailand, Thai politics, or believe that we never landed men on the moon! (sometimes it is all three in one person!)

but we have cleared up the TV kiss ... and the fact that Thais kiss in public (granted not Thais in intergenerational relationships etc ... but just regular Thai people ....)

Just had dinner with eight gay thai university students, a couple of whom are involved with the pride event. I showed them this thread, particularly the kissing discusion, and got the response: "another Farang who claims to know and understand Thailand, but is really only trying to impose his own misguided western values". "hope he won't be attending" they said.

Hallelujah - my work is done!

[Loaded]

I love this thread - great entertainment.

JD bashing... again

Gays arguing about whether there is a gay community

and arguments about what is a kiss

everyone saying they understand Thai culture more than everyone else

Please mods don't delete anything - it's all just so gay

I will be joing the parade and intend on having a great time.

[Puwa]

Spotted last night, Nimman Soi 11, approximately 7.30pm, vicinity of Khun Nai Deun Sai restaurant. Attractive twenty-something Thai couple walking down the street. Subject #1, female, holding the left arm of subject #2, male, in an attitude that might be described as publicly affectionate. Subject #1 then proceeds to execute extended kiss-like action on the cheek/jawline area of subject #2. Perpetrators fled the scene before citizen arrest could be made.

This disturbing incident raises several questions.

1) Do two people walking down the street constitute a parade?

2) Is walking and snuggling simultaneously a form of mincing?

3) Do the alleged snugglers and I form a community, and if so, do we have to pay Nimman-esque property rates?

I shall be petitioning the governor for a full official investigation.

Edited February 11, 2009 by Puwa

[catmac]

you dont have a clue do you

Quite a few people have made the same observation at different times on different threads about our man in asia.

Thanks! Usually it's either people that don't understand Thailand, Thai politics, or believe that we never landed men on the moon! (sometimes it is all three in one person!)

but we have cleared up the TV kiss ... and the fact that Thais kiss in public (granted not Thais in intergenerational relationships etc ... but just regular Thai people ....)

Just for once, I find myself in full agreement with jd!

My observation of the younger Thais in CM and around is that many of the old taboos are being left behind. Sadly, it is a world-wide tendency for the older generation to cluck their tounges and mutter about the "immorality of these young people", but times are changing. In my opinion for the better. Even in India (where the taboo on public displays of affection was even more prohibitive) a Judge has ruled that a kiss in public between a married couple should no longer be a criminal offence!

[PeaceBlondie]

As Loaded suggested, I am not about to delete posts on this thread, just for people arguing about how common public kissing is around Northern Thailand. I will leave that task to other mods (remind me if I break that promise).

As for kissing, when I taught in a not-so-remote province of Northern Thailand in 2003, I met an 18 year old Thai guy who had just spent months as an exchange student in California. He said his biggest shock was seeing a man kiss a woman IN PUBLIC. So in my novel about life in Mae Hong Son, I joke that the first time two gay guys kissed in public, 8-year old Siriporn saw it and was emotionally scarred for life.

Now I will go watch 5 Thai guys build my carport....fascinating, and no kissing. Oh, and lots of Thai guys do not do deep mouth kissing behind closed doors....

[jdinasia]

you dont have a clue do you

Quite a few people have made the same observation at different times on different threads about our man in asia.

Thanks! Usually it's either people that don't understand Thailand, Thai politics, or believe that we never landed men on the moon! (sometimes it is all three in one person!)

but we have cleared up the TV kiss ... and the fact that Thais kiss in public (granted not Thais in intergenerational relationships etc ... but just regular Thai people ....)

Just had dinner with eight gay thai university students, a couple of whom are involved with the pride event. I showed them this thread, particularly the kissing discusion, and got the response: "another Farang who claims to know and understand Thailand, but is really only trying to impose his own misguided western values". "hope he won't be attending" they said.

Were they any of the ones seen kissing in public?

[mc2]

my t rak is even shy to blow a kiss (over web cam) in a public internet cafe

[jupiterandromeda]

Can we stay more focused on the topic, and refrain from personal remarks? Thank you.

agreed - lets focus on the chiang mai pride. i spoke to MPlus today and they are still planning for a parade - ensuring everyone remains polite. lets pass the word out. the parade is set to go. everyone gay str8 or inbetween are welcome - february 21

Good Idea. I just got my copy of the local paper, no mention of the Gay Pride or the other events connected with it. Anyone know the reasons why?. Is the paper homophobic?, or is there another reason?.

Alll local tourist mags we missed because of editorial deadlines. CM Mail,,, I dont know.

[ilovecm]

Can we stay more focused on the topic, and refrain from personal remarks? Thank you.

agreed - lets focus on the chiang mai pride. i spoke to MPlus today and they are still planning for a parade - ensuring everyone remains polite. lets pass the word out. the parade is set to go. everyone gay str8 or inbetween are welcome - february 21

Good Idea. I just got my copy of the local paper, no mention of the Gay Pride or the other events connected with it. Anyone know the reasons why?. Is the paper homophobic?, or is there another reason?.

Alll local tourist mags we missed because of editorial deadlines. CM Mail,,, I dont know.

If it is true, that the CM Mail has refused to publish any details, we should stop buying the paper, also boycott the events arranged by the two gay people (one thai and one farang) who went to the Governor to stop gay pride. if anyone does not know who we are talking about, go to any local gay bar, it is public knowledge

[neilrob]

Alll local tourist mags we missed because of editorial deadlines. CM Mail,,, I dont know.

If it is true, that the CM Mail has refused to publish any details, we should stop buying the paper, also boycott the events arranged by the two gay people (one thai and one farang) who went to the Governor to stop gay pride. if anyone does not know who we are talking about, go to any local gay bar, it is public knowledge

I do not know why it is not listed in the CM Mail (maybe missed the deadline for this issue?). However, it is not because the paper is homophobic---they list the Long Yang Club and half or more of the writers/contributors are gay.

[ilovecm]

If half the writers/contributors of the CM Mail are gay as Neilrob says, why did they not publish details - they must have known - well intime for deadlines? is there another reason?

[mbincm]

Can we stay more focused on the topic, and refrain from personal remarks? Thank you.

agreed - lets focus on the chiang mai pride. i spoke to MPlus today and they are still planning for a parade - ensuring everyone remains polite. lets pass the word out. the parade is set to go. everyone gay str8 or inbetween are welcome - february 21

Good Idea. I just got my copy of the local paper, no mention of the Gay Pride or the other events connected with it. Anyone know the reasons why?. Is the paper homophobic?, or is there another reason?.

Alll local tourist mags we missed because of editorial deadlines. CM Mail,,, I dont know.

i have just heard that the Gay Pride has been cancelled. What a shame. I hope the two gay people who managed to get it cancelled (one Thai and one farang) feel satisfied. They should never have gone to the authorities. Own goal or what!.

[Ijustwannateach]

For the record, I don't have much of a position on whether *gay* Thais SHOULD kiss in public (I think it's kind of up to them- and there are different positions on whether or not 'shock treatment' is necessary as a gay political maneuver, in Thailand or anywhere else), but I have rarely seen them DO it- in most of the flirtier malls it still seems like a daring statement for two obviously gay non-kathoeyesque young men to walk around hand-in-hand as a couple (though they DO do this it is uncommon). Even in clubs- where arguably it is somewhat more excusable and somewhat less public - actual public kissing is unusual and considered a bit slutty. Typically seems to happen when one besotted partner in a couple has had a LOT too much to drink....

In either case, I would be perfectly happy to see public affection between gays at a gay pride parade in Thailand, anywhere, as long as it was really a Thai event. Some of the posts here sound hopeful regarding the provenance of the event, and hope they manage to pull it off. Anyone have confirmation of the definite cancellation?

[PeaceBlondie]

This old dishwater blond still has the event marked on his calendar.

[ilovecm]

Can we stay more focused on the topic, and refrain from personal remarks? Thank you.

agreed - lets focus on the chiang mai pride. i spoke to MPlus today and they are still planning for a parade - ensuring everyone remains polite. lets pass the word out. the parade is set to go. everyone gay str8 or inbetween are welcome - february 21

Good Idea. I just got my copy of the local paper, no mention of the Gay Pride or the other events connected with it. Anyone know the reasons why?. Is the paper homophobic?, or is there another reason?.

Alll local tourist mags we missed because of editorial deadlines. CM Mail,,, I dont know.

i have just heard that the Gay Pride has been cancelled. What a shame. I hope the two gay people who managed to get it cancelled (one Thai and one farang) feel satisfied. They should never have gone to the authorities. Own goal or what!.

agreed. i was in a bar tonight and found out alot about the two people who managed to get gay pride banned - they both have a history - and as the saying says - the truth will out......

[Junglejumbo]

The need for this parade is clear reading these posts. Heterosexuals or whites don't need to have one because they are visable and aren't discriminated against on the basis of their sexuality or colour (at least in their home country). If there hadn't been parades and other gays outing themselves, they would still be considered criminals for which they're not because they're not doing anyone any harm. People still don't know who's gay and if there's no parade people will think that there are no gays, just like the Chinese government used to say, and the Iranian government still says. So how can the plight of these people, who are actually quite a sizable minority--something like 5-10% of the population, improve.

Also, sexuality is ambiguous. There's many people who consider themselves straight indulging in gay sex from time to time, and sometimes vice versa. Opening up the whole gay things opens the mind to who we really are, rather than purely thinking in terms of missionary position, man and woman only. Humans are actually very diverse creatures with potentially great imaginations that possibly other species don't yet have. Perhaps there's other thing we can eventually do such as telepathic communication at some point.

Anyhow, keeping something like sex which is more or less just a natural way to relax (straight people are not reproducing five times a week) in a closet is ridiculous...and why? Just because old Mosses told us to stay with one partner all our life, and someone else around the same time told us not to do with a man what we do with a woman? Well, people only lived until about 30yrs in those days and the world's population was about 200,000 people compared to more than 6bn today and living about 3x as long in some cases....so let people move on with the times...And anyhow, the fact that someone had to say this shows that there were gays around even in ancient times.

The only thing that I would have against Gay Pride is that it stereotypes gays into the Queir look, when actually most gays look pretty "normal" most of the time and arent' necessarily effeminate. Also gay pride should allow "straights" or others who at some time or from time to time like to have a bit of gay sex on the side....

Edited February 11, 2009 by Junglejumbo

[endure]

Spotted last night, Nimman Soi 11, approximately 7.30pm, vicinity of Khun Nai Deun Sai restaurant. Attractive twenty-something Thai couple walking down the street. Subject #1, female, holding the left arm of subject #2, male, in an attitude that might be described as publicly affectionate. Subject #1 then proceeds to execute extended kiss-like action on the cheek/jawline area of subject #2. Perpetrators fled the scene before citizen arrest could be made.

This disturbing incident raises several questions.

1) Do two people walking down the street constitute a parade?

2) Is walking and snuggling simultaneously a form of mincing?

Simple mincing isn't sufficient. They have to mince themselves into a frenzy so I suspect that walking and snuggling either apart or together wouldn't be enough.

[Sao Jiang Mai]

Is it true? Is the event cancelled? Can someone tell me why? Thanks.

[Sansai Sam]

The farang who is trying to cancel the parade is the president of a group called CHIANG MAI FREUNDES and the editor of the CHIANG MAI MAIL is on the board...that's why!

[Sao Jiang Mai]

Just saw MPlus's web site, they confirm event is still on!

[Loaded]

The farang who is trying to cancel the parade is the president of a group called CHIANG MAI FREUNDES and the editor of the CHIANG MAI MAIL is on the board...that's why!

The plot thickens...

I will cancel all my appointments for the rest of the evening and take my phone of its hook (well I would if it had one) as I'm sure the mention of CMEP and it's president will unleash a tsunami of interesting posts. <Loud drum beats in the background>

[Paagai]

The farang who is trying to cancel the parade is the president of a group called CHIANG MAI FREUNDES and the editor of the CHIANG MAI MAIL is on the board...that's why!

The plot thickens...

I will cancel all my appointments for the rest of the evening and take my phone of its hook (well I would if it had one) as I'm sure the mention of CMEP and it's president will unleash a tsunami of interesting posts. <Loud drum beats in the background>

If the suggestion is true, I would suggest its time for the many gay clients of certain Farang run service businesses in CM to take their pink dollars elsewhere. That might inject some realism...........