Gay Pub Raid Row

[george]

Pub raid row

BANGKOK: -- More than 50 gay people filed a complaint against officers from Suthisarn police station yesterday, accusing them of discrimination and harassment.

Kitinant Thromthat, 40, owner of G Host Pub, led complainants to file a notice of grievance with Colonel Ruechakorn Chonchewut, superintendent of Suthisarn police station.

Kitinant claimed that 40 Suthisarn police had unfairly pressed charges against him and his clients, had illegally detained both his staff and clients, and had stolen valuables from the pub.

He said that police closed the pub at about 4am yesterday and detained about 200 workers and clients. By refusing to return ID cards, the police had committed theft. The police also arrested 14 clients and charged them with drinking alcohol outside legal hours.

--The Nation 2005-09-04

[Ijustwannateach]

And high time, too!

Because gays are considered socially "lower" in this as well as many other countries, they are often victimised disproportionately in crackdowns on "morals." Complaints in this country (especially considering the number of wealthy gays here) are long overdue. When are we going to see the crackdowns hitting straight Patpong, then? Let's give everyone on THAT street a pee test at prime weekend hours.

"Steven"

[Scott]

Couldn't agree more.

I have one question, however, the clients were detained for drinking outside legal hours--I know there are hours for bars to serve, but are their hours for when you can legally drink?

Scary to think of the police busting into your house at 2:15 a.m. and hauling you away for watching a late night football game and having a beer with friends!

[Sansai Sam]

WHOA!! While I fully agree that we are discrimated against and that the laws should be applied equally the facts are that the bar was open way after the legal hour and Thai ID cards are the property of the Thai government. If we want them to be fair we need to stay fair too.

[StateSix]

And high time, too!

Because gays are considered socially "lower" in this as well as many other countries, they are often victimised disproportionately in crackdowns on "morals."  Complaints in this country (especially considering the number of wealthy gays here) are long overdue.  When are we going to see the crackdowns hitting straight Patpong, then?  Let's give everyone on THAT street a pee test at prime weekend hours.

"Steven"

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Is there a problem with gay clubs being unfairly targetted? I have to admit that I am unaware if this is true or not. The newspapers usually report on the straight bars (or majority straight anyway), such as Qbar and Mystique etc being raided. It wasnt that long ago that Qbar was raided and everybody had to do a urine test and farangs without passports were locked up until it could be produced. Lucifers in Patpong has been subject to it previously. The police have recently been in Soi Cowboy and Nana conducting tests. Admittedly these tests were only done on Thais and not the farangs. Does this happen in the boy bar areas in Silom too? And is it just the Thais that get tested or does the farangs get tested too?

This raid seems to be against a bar that was open after hours. The police often raid Thai bars that are open after hours. Do they keep the ID cards of the people in these bars, or did they do it in this case because the customers were gay? Were tactics different?

I am not disputing whether gay people get unfair treatment at times, I am just wondering to what extent the social order crackdown is being targetted at the gay community compared to the straight areas.

[Ijustwannateach]

A number of places popular with gay farang tourists have received what seems to be a lot of extra attention- a raid every month is not unusual- and a few times in the last year whole gay STREETS have been shut down and pee-tested.

"Steven"

[jdinasia]

Places like bathouses that have a history of drug issues etc have been nailed in the past. But as far as I know Q-Bar gets nailed way more than gay venues.

Even bars that are a little more protected don't keep their doors open and keep serving inside until 4am with their exterior neon still on. I believe Ratchada Soi 4 (straight discos) was jumped on once last year. All the places there.

As far as I could tell from watching the late night talk show Monday Night. (I have a decent command of Thai). The keeping of ID's without issuing a summons or ticket (as a receipt at the very least) does seem to be contrary to common practice and likely illegal.