There has been welcoming news for the LGBT community in Thailand, just in time for pride month. I would like to give kudos to two major organisations that have shown support for diversity and the right to self-expression in Thailand.
Dress How You Identify
On Monday, Gasinee Witoonchart, rector of Thammasat University, signed an announcement regarding the dress code of students whose sexual identity or sexual orientation doesn't align with their sex at birth and treatment toward them.
To summerise her announcement, university staff are urged to treat these students with dignity and respect. Any action deemed to be bullying, disrespecting or oppressing them could lead to disciplinary action.
These students are allowed to dress in the way they identify themselves for informal and formal events at the university. This freedom extends to how they present themselves in photos submitted to the university for the purpose of enrolling in class, taking exams and taking an internship so long as they dress appropriately. These students are also allowed to dress in a way that they identify with at the graduation ceremony, as well. Moreover, units within Thammasat are forbidden from issuing a guideline regarding the dress code in a way that discriminates against them.
A+ to Thammasat for publicly announcing support for these students.
Equal Opportunity Employer
While job ads in Thailand usually contain age range and sex (as in reproductive organs, not the action) as part of a candidate's qualification, one provincial governor tries to abolish that and goes beyond.
Chanthaburi Governor Witurat Srinam issued an announcement last Friday in support of equality and gender rights. Besides allowing the personnel under his purview to dress according to the gender they identify themselves with, job ads and candidate qualifications will, from now on, include preferred skills and education level only and there will be no mention of sex at birth or gender.
It also calls for educating the personnel on the right terms related to gender identity through documents, conversation and other means, in order to prevent stigmatisation and devaluing of any genders.
Moreover, a search for someone to sit at a committee should be diverse and include men, women and those who don't traditionally align with their sex at birth at every level, in the hope to make Thai society truly equal.
Lastly, sexual harassment in the workplace will also be addressed. The personnel will be educated on behaviours that are considered to be sexual harassment and measures against it will be introduced.
Could this announcement be even more woke? (in Chandler Bing's voice) And I'm using woke in a positive sense here. Let's hope more and more organisations follow in their footsteps.