One by one, vintage magazines that were kept inside ziplock bags were slowly pulled out from within a steel cupboard. The yellowed pages of the publication and the outdated fashion apparel of the half-naked cover boy spoke for the period it was published.
What Nikorn Chimkong has stored within his Bangkok Rainbow Organization's office in Pradipat neighbourhood are not just any vintage magazines that we could find in second-hand bookshops and flea markets. They show pictures of muscled half-nude men, or women with short tomboy hair, with accompanying articles. The fact that these are Thai gay, lesbian and transgender publications sets Nikorn's library apart from others. Though they were only produced in recent decades, this material is fast disappearing. It's not an exaggeration to say it's on the verge of extinction.
While today's queer magazines like Attitude and Tom Act enjoy spots on mainstream bookstores' shelves, older GLT magazines were secretive in their nature. Most weren't sold or distributed publicly. They were only available at specific shops known to regulars. Their "underground" nature meant the magazines were published periodically. Some didn't have ISBN, issue numbers, dates or even details of publishers. Not many people saw the longevity of their publications.
But if producing and selling were made difficult, holding onto such magazines was even harder as no one -- gay or lesbian -- really wanted to keep such material with them for fear of being found.
"Most people just bought, read and burnt the 'evidence'. It was just too dangerous to keep queer magazines in the house. Anyone could find and realise, and nobody wanted that to happen," said Nikorn.
The government's social order campaign in the early 2000s under Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra saw a mass "clean-up" of obscene and pornographic material. GLT magazines, unfortunately, were labelled by the Ministry of Culture as lamok (obscene). They were presumably destroyed after extensive police raids.
In an attempt to preserve these rare publications, Professor Peter A. Jackson -- a professor of Thai history at the Australian National University and a scholar in Buddhism and gender -- pioneered the preservation project with support from local LGBT community organisations. Over a thousand GLT publications (gay, lesbian, transsexual) are now digitised and can be accessed for free online as part of the Thai Rainbow Archive Project. The original hard copies are all kept at the Thai Queer Resources Centre (TQRC) at Bangkok Rainbow's office. Nikorn, as the organisation's director, now oversees the extensive collection.
The material -- from commercial magazines to community organisation newsletters -- is divided into three periods: the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Earlier ones, as Nikorn presumed, have all perished. The majority of the publications were gay, with only a few aiming for lesbian and transgender readers.
Most of the publications were donated from partnering organisations like Anjaree, the Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand, M Plus, as well as members of the LGBT community around the country that sent in their hidden crates of GLT magazines.
The Thai Rainbow Archive Project is supported by the Australian National University and the National Library of Australia. It was funded by a two-year grant (2009-2010) from the British Library's Endangered Archives Programme, which was sponsored by the Arcadia Fund -- a charity that supports the preservation of cultural heritage and the environment.
"Even though the British Library has supported the preservation of Thai LGBT publications, no library or university in Thailand has provided any support at all," Professor Jackson said, expressing his disappointment.
Initially, there were plans to keep all the publications within Thai universities or educational institutes in order for Thai researchers to peruse the collection for their thesis. But, in the end, no institution welcomed the GLT publications.
Judging passively from the raunchy covers, many would wonder why there is even a need to preserve such publications. Pornography is already the word the public had in mind when there's a mention of "gay magazines".
"Admittedly, some of this material could be considered pornographic. But if you view it as just porn, then that's all it can be. However, if you view its benefits, then there's another part -- like 40% of the magazine's content -- that's beneficial for research. People just tend to see the porn bit and forget everything else," said Nikorn, adding that if these publications are not valuable, the preservation project wouldn't have received support from international organisations and institutes. He believes these magazines document the history, culture, society, health and lifestyle of LGBT people in Thailand, and thus are very significant for academic purposes.
Nikorn Chimkong, director of the Bangkok Rainbow Organisation, browses through vintage GLT publications.
One interesting social aspect of these vintage magazines can strangely be observed in its matchmaking section. Before all the matchmaking apps and websites, many gay men used to connect and find one another via magazine ads. In early days, as explained by Nikorn, they were allocated with numbers and aliases. Their real names and addresses were not always revealed. Some magazine producers and editors would then act as a liaison to pass on letters from one party to another to protect both parties' identity. Their service was charged for and paid in postage stamps.
The secretive nature of the production, distribution, and even how community members connected with one another, is a good reflection of the attitude and treatment Thai society had for the LGBT community. While Bangkok -- and Thailand in general -- has been a long-time home to a large LGBT community, it's clear how marginalised and oppressed the community has been treated by society at large, and the same treatment also goes for GLT publications.
Nikorn believes it's unfair to classify all GLT material as pornographic, inappropriate or immoral. He reported that, at many book fairs in the past, some publishers were cleared out and banned from conducting their business. Some GLT materials -- which also includes novels -- were not allowed to be sold at popular bookstores.
"You have to see its content, too. If they fall under the category of porn, then all porn should be treated to the same standard whether it's straight or queer," said Nikorn. "In the end, we have to admit that books -- in any shape and form -- can open up the world to readers."
The situation for novels is, however, being improved as there are now more Yaoi (male love) and Yuri (girl-on-girl) novels being sold publicly, even getting a separate shelf in major stores. It is believed this is a commercial response to growing market demand. Even straight people read queer stories.
Still, while society seems more open than in the past, nobody is willing to take a risk. For fear of intervention from Thai authorities, the online rainbow archive is now being hosted on the Australian National University's server. And there are currently no plans to relocate original copies into storage elsewhere.
"If we choose to keep this material at other places, we fear it may not last forever. Should there ever be a change in policy or administration, they will be easily thrown out by all the conservatives. Right now, we think that it's right for this stuff to be kept within LGBT organisations," said Nikorn.
Academics who conduct research on related topics are invited to make the best of the online collection. If necessary, they are welcome to peruse the original copies at the TQRC on appointment.
Visit thairainbowarchive.anu.edu.au.
