The rocky road to Mandalay is full of potholes and the traffic is slow. The land is also full of pitfalls for lesbigay natives in Burma who know little about gay pride and sexual identity. The gentle guys and virtually invisible lesbians are naive and secretive. But 2015 brought democratic elections and a new Parliament
Burma’s political system remained under the tight control of a military-led government since 1962. No free elections were allowed until November 2015 when Burma/Myanmar held a reasonably peaceful election in which the opposition party National League for Democracy (NLD) won an absolute majority of seats in parliament that ensured its preferred nominees will be elected president and first vice president. The party’s leader is Aung San Suu Kyi.
Homosexuality is illegal in Burma. For the past 50 years the authoritarian nature of the government made it difficult to obtain accurate information about the legal or social status of LGBT Burmese citizens. There are numerous laws that prohibit spreading a sexually transmitted disease, committing “a public nuisance, making, selling, or distributing “obscene” material, buying or selling a prostitute under the age of eighteen or anything that might affect the morality of an individual, society or the public in a negative way. Currently no organized LGBT political or social organization can exist. There is some hope for change under the new government but Burma’s social mores about human sexuality have been described as being very conservative. Nevertheless there are LGBT activists who have been working in the shadows. What will happen next is uncertain as of December 2015.
Name: Burma
Population: 55390000
Capital: Naypyidaw - Pop. 930000
Area: 676578 sq. km/ sq. miles
Language: Burmese
Religion: Buddhism
Status of Homosexuality: Illegal
Telephone Country Code: 95
Gay people in Myanmar have adopted a secret language, 2020/May/30
Falling in love at a Myanmar high school, 2019/Feb/05
Gay man with HIV charged under Myanmar sodomy law, 2018/Nov/02
LGBT rights: ‘A struggle within the struggle’, 2016/Feb/02
Gay People In Myanmar Can’t Live Openly. Here’s Why, 2015/Oct/17
Briton jailed in Burma for ‘insulting’ Buddha image named prisoner of conscience by Amnesty, 2015/Oct/07
Myanmar election: Suu Kyi vows to lead government, 2015/Oct/07
LGBT Network Calls for Tolerance, End to Harassment, 2015/Sep/18
New HIV Infections Have Fallen in Burma: UN Report, 2014/Jul/17
Myanmar Holds First Public Gay Wedding, 2014/Mar/03
Activists at the ASEAN People’s Forum call for the protection of LGBT rights in Southeast Asia, 2014/Feb/24
The battle for gay rights in Burma, 2013/Nov/29
Myanmar’s HIV/AIDS Program: Cautious Optimism, 2013/Aug/29
Gays in Burma allege sexual abuse by police, 2013/Jul/13
Myanmar: Gay Men and Transgender Women, 2013/Jul/07
In Myanmar, Stigma and Neglect Add to HIV Misery, 2012/May/31
Myanmar holds first gay pride celebrations, 2012/May/17
Burmese rights group to broadcast LBGT news online, 2012/Feb/21
Gay Burma News & Reports 2003-11, 2009/Jan/01
