The Nation, July 8, 2011
And the people have spoken. The result of last week's election was a resounding confirmation of the majority's desire for change.
Last year in a column headlined "The red closet", I drew a similarity between closeted LGBTs and the red shirts who suddenly had to hide their identity after they became "public enemies". They were the subjects of a witchhunt, accused of burning Bangkok -not to mention the antimonarchist accusation framed by the authorities' infamous "mindmap".
Many red shirts learned firsthand how to live a double life. Among likeminded people, they could momentarily be themselves, but once in the public they had to pretend otherwise lest their relationships and careers be jeopardised. On Facebook they hid their true identities under pseudonyms - much like closet gays do on gay dating sites -or separate their "friends" into those in the know and otherwise.
Interestingly, though, even after their big political comeback burst open the red closet, their parallel with LGBT continues. Disgruntled antired people have called Pheu Thai voters kwai, meaning "buffalo". In other words, they're dumb animals. Reds were accused of abusing their freedom by voting wrongly.
This is something else with which LGBTs are familiar. We've long been accused of "choosing wrong". People who imagine that homosexuality and transgenderism are just casual choices regard us as subhuman and immoral for choosing the "wrong" lifestyle. This is no different than calling Pheu Thai supporters "buffalo" for choosing the "evil" party.
Some would like to see such "immoral" people stripped of our freedom altogether. Thais need to understand that sexual orientation isn't chosen at will. The only choice involved is reconciling with it or living in denial for the rest of your life.
Political affiliation isn't as ingrained as sexual orientation and gender identity, but because it's a wilful choice, all the more reason it must be respected. What's the point of freedom if you're not allowed to vote the way you want? Whose vote is it anyway?
I sympathised with the red shirts because I believe that if the voice of a mass movement, let alone the majority, isn't respected, there's no chance that a minority will be heard.
Now that the red shirts have the majority voice, I hope they will avoid exercising "the tyranny of the majority" and remember the time when they were regarded as second-class citizens, like LGBTs, ethnic and religious minorities, the disabled and other vulnerable groups.
I hope they will respect diversity, not only in political opinions but also in culture, religion, gender, sexuality and all other statuses. They have long demanded equality and justice. Now they can show the rest of the country that "buffalo" might understand human dignity better than some humans who think they're "more equal than others".
Then the word kwai can be reclaimed and empowered as a word of dignity and self-respect, like the way that the word prai has already been reclaimed by the red movement and the way the gay liberation movement reclaimed the words "queer" and "faggot".