Being Gay In Laos

[thaijasmine]

I wondered if anyone here has knowledge of the true situation for gay people in Laos ?

It's so hard to get a straight answer there in there seems to be something of a mystery about the place.

For example in many of the hotels there you have signs on the back of the door in hotels

saying that it is expressly forbidden to take any visitor back to your room unless you are a married couple.

But then when you ask the management about this they respond by saying this law is never actually enforced.

So why have the sign on the door then?

My suspicious mind leads me to ask whether there is any potential room to be setup under these circumstances

knowing there is so much corruption in that country. So I wondered if anybody had any firsthand

experience of staying there with anyone?

[thaijasmine]

well if there is any risk of being charged by the police it doesnt

seem worth taking a chance ? why bother ?

[sbk]

Posts have been deleted. Snide, uninformative comments are not welcome in this forum

[Ijustwannateach]

Technically speaking, I believe it may be illegal for any foreigner to co-habit with any Lao citizen of the opposite sex to whom he is not married. I am not sure if the law is specific about same-sex visitations or not, however I have heard of inteference in this matter from some hotel management (though not police). It is also legally required for any foreigner to register with the police wherever he stays in Laos; I presume that hotels routinely do so on behalf of their guests.

[peter991]

Definitely something that is hard to find out unless you are 'on the ground.' According to Avert.com it's 15yo for heterosexuals and unknown for gays. According to Wiki's new map, my eyesight isn't good enough to view ... according to a report on GeoCities, homosexuality is illegal in Laos.

Peter

[BigSnake]

Many trips to Laos, between 2001-2004 and a few recently never saw any openly Gay People, then again I wasn't looking for any. The wife and I did question(?) in our minds about the conduct of two of the hotel cleaning Ladies, seem as if the were might sweet on each other. HMMMMMM! I wonder?

[klfopera]

I wondered if anyone here has knowledge of the true situation for gay people in Laos ?

It's so hard to get a straight answer there in there seems to be something of a mystery about the place.

For example in many of the hotels there you have signs on the back of the door in hotels

saying that it is expressly forbidden to take any visitor back to your room unless you are a married couple.

But then when you ask the management about this they respond by saying this law is never actually enforced.

So why have the sign on the door then?

My suspicious mind leads me to ask whether there is any potential room to be setup under these circumstances

knowing there is so much corruption in that country. So I wondered if anybody had any firsthand

experience of staying there with anyone?

I have been to Luang Prabang at least five times over the last ten or so years with Thai boyfriends. I have never had an inkling of a problem. Several of the better hotels there are owned by gay farangs. There is a cute boy bar there. I have gay friends in Luang Prabang (including a farang-Lao couple who own a very nice wine bar). They are quite happy and have no problems.

[randersn]

I often travel to Laos to visit my boyfriend/partner and we usually stay at least a few days in Vientiane. We've only been denied a room once at some forgettable guesthouse (don't remember the name), but have never been turned away at other places, such as Inter City Hotel and Lane Xang Hotel and a few other guesthouses at which we stay.

Coincidentally, we are celebrating our 4 year anniversary today. We were married in a traditional ceremony at his family compound with over 100 guests attending, including elderly members of his family who conducted the ceremony and many neighbors and friends from his village. Quite lovely, indeed. My partner has a very large number of gay and lady boy friends, his sister has a close girlfriend, and two of his best friends are a lesbian couple who have been together for a number of years.

I sometimes get the feeling that the number of gay people in Laos is vastly underestimated, and, as far as I know, they have no trouble living openly in Laos society. I've heard of only one incident of gay bashing, and that was of a lady boy who might have been too forward with the wrong kind of guy.

Anyway, I nor my partner have ever been discriminated against in Laos, except at the aforementioned guesthouse. (And, yes, there is a law that states that farang and locals may not cohabit, but it seems the law is rarely enforced.) The only stares we get seem to be from farang tourists. The attitude overall seems to be live and let live. I'm sure there are probably quite a number of gays who have had problems in Laos, but so far, to me and my partner, everyone has been accepting and friendly. Hope that sheds a little light for the OP, but there are probably others who can shine the light a little brighter.

[andrisdg]

I often travel to Laos to visit my boyfriend/partner and we usually stay at least a few days in Vientiane. We've only been denied a room once at some forgettable guesthouse (don't remember the name), but have never been turned away at other places, such as Inter City Hotel and Lane Xang Hotel and a few other guesthouses at which we stay.

Coincidentally, we are celebrating our 4 year anniversary today. We were married in a traditional ceremony at his family compound with over 100 guests attending, including elderly members of his family who conducted the ceremony and many neighbors and friends from his village. Quite lovely, indeed. My partner has a very large number of gay and lady boy friends, his sister has a close girlfriend, and two of his best friends are a lesbian couple who have been together for a number of years.

I sometimes get the feeling that the number of gay people in Laos is vastly underestimated, and, as far as I know, they have no trouble living openly in Laos society. I've heard of only one incident of gay bashing, and that was of a lady boy who might have been too forward with the wrong kind of guy.

Anyway, I nor my partner have ever been discriminated against in Laos, except at the aforementioned guesthouse. (And, yes, there is a law that states that farang and locals may not cohabit, but it seems the law is rarely enforced.) The only stares we get seem to be from farang tourists. The attitude overall seems to be live and let live. I'm sure there are probably quite a number of gays who have had problems in Laos, but so far, to me and my partner, everyone has been accepting and friendly. Hope that sheds a little light for the OP, but there are probably others who can shine the light a little brighter.

the relevant law can be found in this link on google

LEGISLATION

Law on Penal. Law on the People's Court. Law on the Public Prosecutor ... Law on the Bank of Lao PDR. Law on Bankruptcy of Enterprises. Law on Civil Aviation ...

poweringprogress.org/ index.php? option=com _content&view=article&... - Cached

in terms of a falange male /loa female relationship the enforecement of the law is thru extortion and corruption by the police in general , with either a set fee or variable depending on the passport according to the street talk .it varies from province to province .

re gay relationships ,i have no knowledge but i did recently have a conversation in vang vieng with a 30ish couple ,a pom and his long standing partner of filipana parentage , both working in loa and they had the experience of being in a bar in vietianne when the cop's arrived on a tip of that she was loa and money could be made . when the mistake was realised the cops beat the shit out of the barman who had made the phone call . that is a he received as his cut a good beating instead of the usual spotters fee

been across to loa ,starting in 96 so i have a fair historical idea of the cops extortion antics in vang vieng , suffice it to say the law is malable ,pliable and at best even non existent inn some instances but that is no barrier to its enforcement

i recall one instance were vietianne repealed some security related provisions re internal travel between provinces [ the chop chop ] in 97 or 98 so as to promote tourism and within a week the vang vieng cop shop was sporting a edict in english from the provincial governor re instating the identical repealed law with a $50 us fine for breachs . in those days a fine of $8 us in legislation was a big fine

there are numerous e.g' s of this form of extortion corruption in loa , so be aware ,what is permissible today may not be tommorrow if money is to be made

[Cambodge1]

My brother is gay and he lived in Vientiane for several months a couple of years ago. His employer provided a serviced apartment at a decent hotel. I know that he had several boyfriends and probably a few casual partners in that time and he never had any problems bringing guests back to his room. I visited twice and stayed at the same hotel and I certainly had no problems with my guests.

I wouldn't worry about the local laws as they are rarely enforced, if at all.

[bobsaigon]

In 2007, I made 2 trips to Thakhek, Laos (across the Mekong from Nakhon Phanom, Thailand). Stayed at the "best" hotel (The Mekong), where they really did not care who went up to my room. Convenient in a way, but sometimes visitors just appeared at my door when I was not expecting or wanting to see them.

In Thakhek, there was only one permanently resident farang, known to all, who had a constant stream of Lao boys passing through his life, his house. He and his friends are accepted by all.

Never went to Vientiane or Luang Prabang, so I can't comment on them. I can only say that in Thakhek, which has few foreign visitors, gay people can feel completely at ease.

[sjaak327]

Technically speaking, I believe it may be illegal for any foreigner to co-habit with any Lao citizen of the opposite sex to whom he is not married. I am not sure if the law is specific about same-sex visitations or not, however I have heard of inteference in this matter from some hotel management (though not police). It is also legally required for any foreigner to register with the police wherever he stays in Laos; I presume that hotels routinely do so on behalf of their guests.

The law applies only to relationships between a man and a woman, and that is fairly logical, as Laos doesn't offer the possiblity of marriage for same sex relationships.

I have a Lao boyfriend for over 5 years now, and have been to Laos numerous times (pretty much all over the coutnry) and nowhere did I ever encounter any problems.

Laos might not look as being equally liberal as Thailand in this matter, and it probably isn't, that doesn't mean it is something that is frowned upon, it is not.