The "third gender" challenge

The Nation, 26 March 2010

If Thailand is serious about the issue, let's see some proof

Although many Thai people truly believe their society is compassionate towards katoey, I've never bought it. Looking at the way my countrymen discriminate against katoey, I've always thought that all the talk about a "third gender" was just lip service that hid the legal reality - the law only truly recognises male and female.

But I saw a completely new perspective through the recent televised debate about transgender woman, when Nok Yollada unequivocally stated she was a woman born in the wrong body. Surveying online comments about the show afterward, I was surprised at the shock and outrage her statement caused, not just among the general public but also among many in the transgender community.

It was also pointed out that many katoey are happy to be katoey rather than women because there's a place for them in Thai society. These comments finally convinced me that, in most people's minds, there actually is a third-gender box for katoey -one that sometimes extends to others with non-typical gender behaviour, such as gays, toms, dees and bi.

As such, it's now easier to understand why people were so rattled by Nok's statement. A katoey can be neatly put in a pre-existing box, but a "transgender woman" who blatantly ignores the lines spells troubles. Such "arbitrary" reassignment is seen as disrupting public order.

Many viewers advised Nok to forget about being legally recognised as a woman, saying such a change would create confusion and jeopardise the right of men to marry a "real" woman and have children. These are the same objections raised against the "title bill" a few years ago. A compromise had to be found to get through the law allowing women to use the title of their choice - the provision that would allow transgenders to change their titles to Miss was dropped.

The "third gender" concept also explains the public's relatively more open attitude toward gay marriage: It's seen as involving only those inside the third box, without no spilling.

If our society believes in the third gender, obviously we have a huge problem: We classify people into three genders, but our legal system recognises only two. This inconsistency has been the source of other problems, such the military rejecting katoey on the basis of the twisted World Health Organisation classification of transgenderism as a psychological disorder.

Unrecognised by law, katoey have problems with banks, registrar offices and foreign embassies if they wish to emigrate. No law protects them from stigma or discrimination. Forthcoming legislation to promote gender equality doesn't even mention the third gender.

It's easy to say that, at the social level, katoey have a place in Thai society, but on closer examination, this "place" is a leper camp behind an invisible electronic fence. Katoey can be food vendors or ladyboy beauty queens, but can you imagine a katoey doctor or politician? And regardless of their profession, many people treat them with contempt, as laughing stocks and even as mentally ill.

If Thailand is serious about the "third gender" it has to match the rhetoric with action. There are precedents for creating new legal genders. The Nepal Supreme Court two years ago ordered the government to legally recognise the "third gender", a more culturally appropriate solution in Asia than the strict gender binary of the West.

We hear about Western transgenders who cross the gender line and find life on the other side completely satisfying, such as Australia's Norrie, who last week made headlines as the world's first genderless person -before the government revoked his/her status.

A three-gender legal system will logically lead to third-gender toilets and dormitories, which many will see as examples of social compassion. But will that magnanimity extend to spending tax money on third-gender hospital wards, sports tournaments and education and employment opportunities so that transgenders can become doctors, judges or even politicians?

Under such a system, katoey would no longer be drafted into the military, but they would lose other male privileges, such as becoming monks. Even those who happily call themselves katoey might be uncomfortable with segregation, in effect, as third-class citizens.

It's only then that we'd see if society's "acceptance" of the third gender is in earnest.