“Third gender" acceptable to Thai society

[reader]

From Bangkok Post 

A large majority of respondents say people of a "third gender" are acceptable to them, according to an opinion survey by the National Institute of Development Administration, or Nida Poll.

The poll was conducted on June 8-10 by telephone interviews with 1,310 people aged 15 and over of various levels of education and occupations throughout the country to gauge their attitude toward people of a "third gender".

Asked whether people of a "third gender" are acceptable to them as friends or colleagues at workplaces, 92.82% said "yes" and 7.18% said "no."

Asked what if a member of their family is a "third gender", 90.61% said he or she would be acceptable to them; 9.31% said "no"; and 0.08% had no answers or were uncertain.
To the question whether people of a "third gender" should be allowed to change the titles preceding their names, 63.59% said "yes"; 36.18% "no"; and 0.23% had no answers or were uncertain.

Of the 833 respondents who agreed with allowing people of a "third gender" to change their name titles, when asked which groups should be allowed to do so, 57.62% said all groups and 42.38% said only those who have undergone sex changes should be allowed.

Asked about having a law to legalise same-sex marriage, 79.62% agreed with it and 20.38% disagreed.

Asked whether there should be an additional gender marking in official papers to be filled up by people of a "third gender", 77.63% said "yes"; 22.14% said "no"; and 0.23% had no answers or were uncertain.

 

[Vessey]

I think that is surprisingly positive and it heartens me.

Sadly I doubt a popular poll asking the same questions here in the UK would get anywhere near that positive response.

[Londoner]

I don't know about today but back in the late 90s  ladyboy  beauty competitions were held in some schools while, today,  young ladyboys are accepted even in rural communities. Or so I'm told..

Heaven knows what US Republicans would say about all this....though I suspect that some of them may  protest too much.  Ladyboy competitions in Florida or Texas may be particularly interesting.

It's all to do with Buddhism, of course, though that probably deserves a thread of its own.

 

[Guest]

third-gender or multi-gendered people are accepted and common in many diverse cultures around the world.  Just yesterday, I read about indigenous people in Canada that identify as “two-spirits”, meaning between genders.  That term is controversial in Canada as it’s a modern word replacing an old word that some felt was derogatory.  Western religion likely forced many of these people to the margins as they took over native lands. 

[Londoner]

In some African tribal communities, too. 

[alvnv]

Same in India, Polynesia and quite a few native nations across Americas

[vinapu]

11 hours ago, Vessey said:

I think that is surprisingly positive and it heartens me.

Sadly I doubt a popular poll asking the same questions here in the UK would get anywhere near that positive response.

We really don't know until we actually ask and answers may be surprising.

I know very bigoted and racist lady , mother of 2 and grandmother of 6 who is all for gay marriage. When I asked her why answer was ' It's coming sooner or later anyways so let them have it"

Then there's my former neighbor, gay men not that happily married to another guy who is firmly against gay marriage saying 'with gay marriage comes gay divorce so better not repeat my mistake" 

And my close friend since 1974 whom I recently discovered to be firm Putin supporter in war against Ukraine, possibly shock of my life.

[Olddaddy]

I was shocked to see recently with the recent Australian Federal election that 3 outwardly Gay (conservatives) politicians who lost their seats were against transgender people,glad they lost their seats, obviously they must hate themselves if they are gay and don't support gay marriage.

Australia has just had the Federal election where the Greens & Labor won and thrashed the conservatives.

A lot has I believe had to do with the conservatives not supporting transgender & gay rights !

Can you still believe church /religious institutions are still allowed to discriminate against gay people, hopefully the new PM will change this !!