PREVIEW
What specific challenges might SOGIE minority groups face?
Some SOGIE minority identities are criminalised by law in some countries. Members of SOGIE minority groups in these countries are at risk of receiving fines, imprisonment and other forms of punishment. They might be exposed to harassment, torture, cruel or other inhumane or degrading treatments by police officers and militaries.
Some countries have laws that restrict members of the LGBT community from marrying, entering a civil union or cohabiting with whom they want. Members of the LGBT community might face barriers in having children and being recognised as their legal parents or guardians.
Some members of the LGBT community who wish to change their legal gender identity might not be allowed to do so under law. Those who wish to undergo sex reassignment treatments, such as hormone therapy and surgery, might also face legal and other barriers. Undergoing sex reassignment treatment is commonly known as ‘transitioning.’
Homophobia is hatred and fear of and discrimination against gay men and lesbian women. Biphobia is hatred and fear of and discrimination against bisexual persons. Transphobia is hatred and fear of and discrimination against transgender persons. These are all examples of prejudice. These forms of prejudice may involve verbal, physical or sexual attacks.
Persons with SOGIE minority identities may not openly tell or share these identities because they do not feel safe and secure or worried that they will not be understood by others. They may therefore live part or all of their lives with their SOGIE minority identities hidden or partially hidden. This is commonly known as ‘being closeted’. When a person reveals their SOGIE minority identity, this process is commonly known as ‘coming out’.
FOCUS ON MYANMAR:
Challenges faced by SOGIE Minority Groups
Section 377 of the Penal Code prohibits certain sexual practices that are considered “against the order of nature”. This is most often interpreted as a prohibition against sexual practices between two or more men. Other members of the LGBT community can also be targeted by section 377. Punishment includes a fine and possible imprisonment up to ten years. Members of the LGBT community who are arrested under section 377 might be verbally, physically and sexually abused while in detention or prison.
The 1945 Burma Police Act allows police officers to stop anyone in a dark place at night who may be covering their face and loitering. This law has been used to arbitrarily arrest transgender persons, gay men and people presumed to be sex workers. Police officers might harass them or demand bribes from them.
Section 375 of the Penal Code only recognises rape of a woman by a man. This means that members of the LGBT community might not be able to access legal justice if they are raped.
Myanmar does not officially recognise same-sex marriages or civil unions.
Like in many other countries, transgender persons in Myanmar are legally recognised by their biological sex and not their gender identity.
Discrimination against members of the LGBT community is present in Myanmar. Some people believe that SOGIE minority identities are punishment for moral ‘wrongs’ in a previous life. SOGIE minority identities are also stereotyped in popular culture, such as in movies.
In their report Discrimination and Human Rights Abuses Against LGBT People in Myanmar, the organisation Colors Rainbow identified different spaces where discrimination and human rights abuses occur against members of SOGIE minority groups. Some of their findings (Colors Rainbow n.d.) include:
-
People may disapprove of and try to ‘cure’ their family members who have SOGIE minority identities.
-
Teachers may insult and unfairly punish LGBT students.
-
LGBT students may drop out of school early if they are bullied.
-
Stereotypes and prejudices create barriers for LGBT persons on the labour market.
-
The news media rarely reports on LGBT issues.
REFLECTION/DISCUSSION
Have you ever seen, heard of or experienced any of the challenges that SOGIE minority groups might face in Myanmar?
အမျိုးသားရေးဝါဒီ
လှုပ်ရှားသွားလာနိုင်မှု
အမွေအနှစ်
ကိုလိုနီဝါဒ