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Of: TT
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Photo: Ye Naing Ye / AFP / TT
Myo Min Tun (left), a PPP candidate in the local elections in the big city of Mandalay, is campaigning in a market. The photo is from September 12.
Tired of discrimination in Myanmar, Myo Min Tun has decided to run as the first openly gay electoral candidate, in a country where same-sex relationships are prohibited.
It was when his transsexual friends told him about the police harassment that he made the decision to enter politics. The police forced them to remove their bras and squat in degrading positions, and then also groped them, according to Myo Min Tun.
– His rights were violated, he says.
– And I realized that there is no one in Parliament who can raise these questions.
Now he has launched a campaign to win a council seat in his hometown of Mandalay, Myanmar’s second-largest city.
– I do this to pave the way for other LGBTQ people, so they see that we can become what we want, says Myo Min Tun.
Bubbles below the surface
The 39-year-old has previously worked as a florist, chef and with HIV prevention and says he himself was fortunate not to face discrimination during his career. The laws of the British colonial era, however, mean that you have no right to love whoever you want; Same-sex relationships are prohibited.
But it is boiling in some places under the conservative surface of the country. More than 10,000 people participated in the gay pride parade in the country’s largest city, Rangoon, in February, and more and more voices are raised to decriminalize same-sex relationships.
Both Myo Min Tun and the party for which he is running, the PPP, believe that the time has not come to raise that issue before the national and regional elections on November 8.
“A long way to go”
Instead, Myo Min Tun wants to focus on countering daily discrimination that can have catastrophic consequences. The problem has drawn attention after a high-profile suicide last year.
Harassment in the workplace is believed to have contributed to a man’s taking his own life. Among other things, derogatory comments from his colleagues could be seen in his latest Facebook post. However, the official investigation cleared the employer of responsibility and concluded that the man was “mentally weak”.
– We still have a long way to go, says Myo Min Tun with a sigh.
When you registered as a candidate, you did not mention your sexual orientation to your party, but you think it is important that you come out in public.
– I don’t want to lie to get votes, he says.
– I believe that if I am honest and honest, people will support me.
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