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Published on August 18, 2007

Thai Queer Resources Centre secretary Prempreeda Pramote na Ayudhya yesterday published research into discrimination against transvestites and transsexuals.

Prempreeda told the "Political Economy of Gender" meeting at Thammasat University's Tha Prachan campus faculty of economics he was out of pocket Bt200,000 because a bank teller refused to cancel an ATM card because of the discrepancy between Prempreeda's female appearance and identification documents.

"Last year after losing my ATM card, I called the bank to seek the cancellation of my card.

"I had to explain a very long time to assure them I was the card holder.

"The teller didn't believe me and didn't do what I asked. This cost me up to Bt200,000. And I haven't found the person who took my money yet.

"So, I think there should be a choice of 'other' as a title in bank-registration forms to make it easier for banks to identify people," Prempreeda said.

Prempreeda added research of the paper was hindered. When seeking books about cabaret shows or homosexual lifestyles, Prempreeda found nothing.

Prempreeda believed this information had been destroyed by past and present governments "because it is considered bad".

"They damaged homosexual history and the history of gays in Thailand.

"However, we are trying to gather those books again," said Prempreeda.

Prempreeda added that insurance companies did not allow homosexuals to take out policies. This is because homosexuals have risky lifestyles, they say.

"As for government solutions, I don't know whether we will get a final answer because, personally, I think it hasn't even begun to address the problems," Prempreeda said.

'Political Economy of Gender' meeting at Thammasat University's Tha Prachan campus faculty of economics.