'Dear children, you must be aware that, in Thailand, we have a group of people who are lost in genders," posted Thai singer Gene Kasidit on his Facebook page on Sept 9.
Gene — a singer famous for both his voice and gender-bending performances — shared his obviously sarcastic words, along with a picture from a Thai health education textbook, featuring the word "transsexual" in English with the Thai translation of "those lost in genders". The accompanying picture featured cabaret showgirls — all of whom had a black strip over their eyes, making them look like criminals. In his post, Gene also added the hashtag "Thai education is very scary".
The controversial content is part of the 2011-published Grade 7 textbook from Aimphan Press, which follows the Ministry of Education's 2008 core curriculum. Gene's post caused outrage, with many taking to the web to criticise the book publisher, the Ministry of Education and the Office of the Basic Education Commission (Obec). Commenters questioned the motives in including the content in the educational materials, which, they said, led to the institutionalisation of homophobia and transphobia.
Praiwan Pitaksalee, director of the Bureau of Academic Affairs and Education Standards, revealed that the said textbook, along with many others, was not proofed by the Ministry before becoming available. This is because, according to her, textbooks on health and physical education, arts and basic occupational skills can be sent to bookstores to be sold right away, with Ministry approval only needing to be sought afterward.
"They [publisher] started selling the book, then they sent it in for approval. After seeing the said contents, we told them that the pictures in question weren't appropriate. The language used was also not politically correct. If they are going to use it [words to define the LGBT crowd], they should be using 'sexual deviation'," said the bureau's director.
"But we don't use those textbooks anymore, though," Praiwan is quick to clarify. "We use the new editions now. It's already been fixed."
The page from a Thai health education textbook, featuring the word 'transsexual' in English with the Thai translation of 'those lost in genders'.
True to Praiwan's words, after the pulling of the 2011 edition and reissuing of the new version, there is no longer mention made of "those lost in genders" in the new books — it's actually much worse.
In some textbooks and class handbooks currently in use, all non-heterosexuals are listed under "Sexual Deviation"; a category encompassing other abnormal sexual behaviours including masochism, exhibitionism, necrophilia, paedophilia, incest and rape. In the textbooks, it is advised that sexual deviants should keep their abnormality a secret and that their acquaintances should keep their distance and not enter into a relationship with those that are "sexually deviated". Thankfully, the textbooks in question are not used in every school.
The sloppy procedure of content approval, however, is still in use, so it is astonishing that Praiwan believes that the problem has now been solved.
If misunderstandings, hate and prejudice towards people who have different sexual orientation from the norms are still being allowed to be taught to children, the issue is far from over.
Chantalak Raksayu, public communications officer from the Foundation for Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (Sogi) Rights and Justice, said the Foundation discovered the discriminating textbook content last year and contacted Obec, but was met with minimal interest and response from the staff who said the textbooks could only be changed every 10 years as per the Ministry's rules. The topic was not deemed of public and government interest until Gene put it online.
"The information they [book publishers and government institutions] have is not updated," said the gender activist. "According to the World Health Organization and Department of Mental Health, homosexuality is not a psychological abnormality. I think they still use the word 'sexual deviation' because they lack new information. Creating textbooks based on this information perpetuates prejudice against different gender orientations.
"It causes hate and apprehension towards young katoeys and tomboys in school, which is really pitiful."
The Ministry's definition of "gender equality" is also potentially problematic. The term,
featured in the curriculum, implies gender equality only covers heterosexual males and heterosexual females.
Aiming to solve the issue at its very core, Chantalak revealed that the Foundation is currently compiling research to pass on to the relevant institutions. The Foundation still has high hopes that it will be able to erase what they see as hate and prejudice towards gender diversity that has taken root in the Thai education system.
"We want to work with the Ministry of Education and Obec — those who are directly responsible for the textbooks — and use our research to help them change the content. We just want things to be correct and fair for everyone, regardless of their gender."
Chantalak suggested that Obec should start by eliminating the whole section on sexual deviation and instead teach children about gender diversity.
"We feel that these textbooks are infringing on LGBT rights. We will get academics and scholars to help us with the research. However, we do think that the relevant institutions and organisations should understand this information before printing and not just leave NGOs to do their work."
The gender activist also praised Gene for his action and said that although other countries may have celebrities who are advocates of Sogie (sexual orientation, gender identity and expression) rights, it is something unfortunately not regularly practised by most Thai celebrities.
"[If Gene hadn't posted it on his Facebook page], no one would have probably cared, aside from those working for sexual orientation and gender identity rights. We really hope more celebrities would speak up [and help raise awareness on the issue] like Gene."
Though much work still needs to be done, it seems that at least one school in Bangkok has no concerns about using content that many be deemed as discriminatory. Sukanda Srihathai, health education teacher at Sacred Heart Convent School, has been teaching for 18 years and said that she hasn't found any such contents in her textbooks yet. Usually, she devises her own teaching plan based on the outline given by the ministry.
"We use the Ministry's curriculum as our core material, but we also have to select some additional content based on current issues, news and lakorns in order to keep our lesson plans fresh, as much of the content in textbooks are pretty outdated."
Sukanda said that when students come to her with problems regarding gender identity, she relies on her own beliefs to educate them.
"When students come and ask me [about sexual orientation and gender identity], I explain to them that it could be caused by hormones, the environment, or a psychological trauma during childhood."
The senior teacher goes on to say: "There are many causes but, in the end, everyone is still equal. They just can't choose which gender to be born as.
"It doesn't really matter which gender they want to be, as long as they are good people with good morals, that is quite enough."
