Out & About

Six years makes this the second longest relationship I've ever had. This column was born in 2002 when regular gay columns were unknown in the country's mainstream publications, Thai or English. Working as a reporter at The Nation, I was approached with an invitation to start a gay column. After some serious thoughts, I accepted with trepidation and doubt, not knowing what I was getting myself into.

I picked the pseudonym AYOR out of the Spartacus gay travel guide used when mentioning cruisy places or behaviours in a foreign land. "At Your Own Risk" suited my feelings of venturing out, freshly single, in the gay world I hardly knew about in my own country.

Following my sister's passing, my resignation from The Nation some months later almost spelt a premature end for the column. The relocation back to my hometown meant that I would effectively miss out. But the efforts to find new writers and contributors proved harder said than done.

Throughout it all, we experienced the ups and downs of Pride, saw the anti-katoey initiatives of the Rajabhat Institute and Ministry of Culture - at least in the most overt forms - beaten back, not to mention most recently the Novotel saga. We saw the emergence of several gay groups and the organic growth of LGBT movement to the point of engaging the army and lobbying the National Legislative Assembly.

We witnessed Thailand's Aids battle slipping from a showcase into a basket case and lost count of the bad katoey movies thrown at us before our wish finally came true in "The Love of Siam". We were glued to "Sex and the City" and "Six Feet Under", cheered the flamboyant "birth" of metrosexual Beckham and mourned the tragic death of "Brokeback" Heath.

One important reason for the nom de plume is to protect the identities of innocent bystanders. But mostly, writing from the shadow of anonymity allowed me to be more open than I would be otherwise. Take, for example, going to the sauna. Being out at work and to my family doesn't mean I feel the need to share with them about my sexperience with absolute strangers in thin-walled cubicles. Although I have been trying to bring my mum up to gay speed, I doubt if she will ever be ready for that.

But it's time to own up to my crimes. The timing is right. Even "Sex and the City" revealed Big's real name at the finale (apparently inspired in turn by Puccini's "Turandot".)

The curtain is falling for Weekend and I must take a bow to all dear readers and particularly to those special few who took the time to let me know your thoughts. Your encouragement kept me going when I no longer remembered why I agreed to begin this column. My biggest thanks go to Weekend editor Khun Phatarawadee for giving the opportunity and putting up with my blatant disrespect for deadline.

In its new incarnation as the daily free, mass circulation tabloid Daily Xpress, there will expectedly be some changes to the gay space. Most noticeably, it will no longer be "Out and About". Pick up Daily Xpress from Wednesday for more details.

Khon Nork (The Outsiders) has organised the Queer Film Project, which will be showing a series of gay and lesbian movies followed by discussions, once a month at Suan Ngoen Mee Ma on Charoen Nakorn Road between soi 20 and 22 in Thonburi. The next screening is 'The Love of Siam' at 1pm on Sunday. The movie is in Thai with no English subtitles, though some translation may be available. For more information, see queerfilm.wordpress.com.

Paisarn Likhitpreechakul  

If you have suggestions for the future column, please send them to ayor@nationgroup.com.