LGBTQ history in Thailand

[1] ‘Samutthakhot Kham Chan’ (สมุทรโฆษคำฉันท์), Thai literature from Ayuttaya times, mentioned lesbian relationships between the concubines living in the royal palace.

It is often used by people who may also identify with the terms trans woman, intersex, or an effeminate gay man, and represents a mixing of "physical and psychological sex, gender behaviours and sexuality".

[1] Scholarship suggests that "an idealized hermaphroditic kathoey category" was likely inspired and shaped by Thai creation myths and Hindu-Buddhist mythology.

[1] This mythical kathoey figure blends male and female, masculine and feminine traits in equal measure and continues to influence modern Thai ideas about gender and eroticism.

[5] With Thailand's transition from an absolute to constitutional monarchy in 1932, "traditional" concepts of gender were enforced by the state as a means of establishing social order and propagating a national culture.

Presented as a "modernization" effort, the state mimicked the Victorian middle-class movement in Europe in an attempt to portray Thailand as a "civilized nation".

Part of this effort was the imposing of indoctrinated gender roles and notions of sexual orientation through state institutions like the military, police, and the educational system.

Transgender women are automatically rejected and given an exemption document known as “Sor Dor 43” stamped with the wording “permanent mental disorder”.

This makes it difficult for transgender women to apply for jobs in government, state enterprises or any companies which require proof of military service.

[citation needed] Due to high pressure from the LGBT community, in March 2006, the military agreed to change the wording but refused to revise any already given Sor Dor 43.