economics on “Economics of LGBTQ+ Discrimination in Thailand)
Economic Times column by…Professor Dr. Piriya Pholpirun, Professor receiving high salary (Professor 11) and Director of the Center for Economic Development Studies National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) www.econ.nida.ac.th; piriya@nida.ac.th
June is a very important and symbolic month for LGBT people around the world. Because it is a month called “Pride Month”, during this month we will see different areas decorated with rainbow flags. Including changing the profile picture on various social media to a rainbow color to express gender equality. Therefore, Pride Month can be considered an important time for LGBTQ+ people or 5 LGBTQ groups such as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and others.
In other words, LGBTQ+ equality has evolved since the 1970s, when LGBTQ+ groups were not socially accepted and legally unacceptable. Homosexuals are immediately convicted of legal offenses. At that time, the love of LGBTQ+ people had to be kept secret. In 2000, US President Bill Clinton declared June as Gay & Lesbian Pride Month. Barack Obama declared June as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month until the rainbow flag was designed to symbolize gender diversity.
Many countries are now pushing to legalize same-sex marriages. It has been successfully done in many countries. Starting with Europe, known as the first continent to have equal marriage laws, with a total of 17 countries (Norway, Sweden, Germany, Spain, Austria, United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Iceland, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Luxembourg, Denmark) in North and South America 10 other countries (USA, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Uruguay). Whereas in Asia there is only one country that has enacted equal marriage laws. (According to the latest information written in this article), which is Taiwan. Therefore, it can be seen that The evolution of gender equality For example, the legislation on marriage equality among Asian countries is far behind that of European countries.
in the case of Thailand itself It started with the issuance of the Draft of the Marriage Act in 2013, but this Act still has a lot of criticism. because the rights obtained from The Marriage Act is less common than in the case of equal marriage, for example, the segregation of the word “spouse” (not the word “spouse”) deprives the spouse of opportunities. To access welfare or benefits that the state has set for the spouse, such as the spouse’s tax deduction under the Revenue Code
The next simple question is: Why is the evolution of homosexual equality so slow or so difficult in any country? There is only one answer, that is. “Society still has more or less discrimination against homosexuality.” It also depends on the attitude (negative) (Homonegativity) that people in that society have towards LGBT.
Research studies have found that There are many factors that affect the level of acceptance (or exclusion) of LGBTQ people. For example, the study found The level of economic development will affect LGBT acceptance differently. Countries with more economic development have a higher level of openness and acceptance of LGBT people than countries with lower levels of economic development. While the research also found that Socioeconomic factors such as gender, age, educational level, occupation, and religion also affect the acceptance (or exclusion of) LGBTQ differences. The study found that Males have higher levels of homosexuality than females, older people are more likely to be homosexual than younger people, people with lower education are more likely to be homosexual. Chosen over highly educated, low-income people are more likely to be excluded from queerness than high-income earners, while married or divorced people are more likely to be queer. statistically significantly more than those who were single (Shackelford and Besser, 2007).
However, from the use of data comparing different countries In the Cross-Country Study, the “religious” factor is one of the most important factors influencing the degree of exclusion of LGBTQ people the most. The Jäckle, and Wenzelburger (2014) study examined 79 countries to determine the factors of religious belief in the level of homosexual exclusion. They found that the higher the level of religious belief a person had, the higher the level of exclusion of LGBTQ people. The results of the study found that Religions with the lowest degree of exclusion are Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Jewish, and the least is Buddhism. or it can be said that Atheist countries appear to have higher levels of exclusion than non-atheistic countries (such as Buddhism). having a gender other than a woman or a man It seems to be contrary to the belief of God.
however Although Buddhism seems to have the lowest level of exclusion against queerness compared to other religions, the results have been seen. Developed Buddhist countries in Asia also seem to be less open to queerness. This leads to my latest study to measure the level of LGBTQ+ Discrimination using Thai data. This research was done with Khun Kritchanok Srimuang by using survey data of 27,885 Thai people aged 13 years and over from the Social and Cultural Survey of the National Statistical Office to analyze the probability of It was found that “exclusion or negative feelings” towards LGBT people in Thailand (Srimuang and Pholphirul, 2022).
1. Age factor has the greatest effect on exclusion. The older they were, the more likely they were to be discriminated against than the youth, with the Silent Generation aged 73 years and over 30 percent more likely to be discriminated against LGBTQ than the Gen C group. of exclusion is much higher is around age 54 and over (Baby Boomer group).
2. Religious factors continue to play a greater role of exclusion. Thais who practiced other religions other than Buddhism were 26-29% more likely to be discriminated against LGBTQ than Thai Buddhists.
3. The study also found that Believing in Buddhist doctrines such as forgiveness, the joy of helping others or altruism would have a statistically significant reduction in the probability of exclusion of LGBTQ people.
4. It was also found that The level of exclusion also differed from group to group, with Gay (49.1%) and Lesbian (47.2%) having higher levels of exclusion than the others. (higher than transgender group, transgender group, and tom group)
5. Other factors also affect the level of exclusion of LGBTQ people. For example, men were 1.6-2.5 percent more discriminated against than women, 8% more uneducated than university graduates, and married 2.6-percent more than singles. 3.7 And people in the southern region have a statistically significant trend of exclusion than other regions.
The research included only homosexuals, toms, gays and lesbians. therefore cannot be analyzed for other genders.
however If the results of this study were used to analyze whether Because LGBTQ+ LGBTQ+ groups are still being bitten in Thailand and it has resulted in the “difficult” in enacting equal marriage laws. Those in charge of making those laws may be among those with high levels of exclusion (for example, from older, less empathetic males). I would like to encourage the equal marriage law to be born in order to continue to build gender equality in our country. Fighting.
P.S. Those interested in my research can download it from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00918369.2021.2018876?journalCode=wjhm20.
อ้างอิงJäckle, S. & Wenzelburger, G. (2014). Religion, Religiosity, and the Attitudes Toward Homosexuality—A Multilevel Analysis of 79 Countries. Journal of Homosexuality, 62(2), 207–241. Shackelford, T. & Besser, A. (2007). Predicting Attitudes toward Homosexuality: Insights from Personality Psychology. Individual Differences Research, 5(2), 106–114.Srimuang, K. and Pholphirul, P. (2022) Measuring LGBT Discrimination in a Buddhist Country, Journal of Homosexuality, DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2021.2018876
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