Until recently, Tanwarin Sukkhapisit was known primarily as a film director who pushed the limits of LGBT representation in Thai cinema. But just a few days ago, she was sworn in as Thailand’s first transgender member of parliament. While Thailand has long been known for its highly visible and diverse transgender population, it’s only in recent years that transgender people have become more visible in the political realm. Tanwarin Sukkhapisit, along with Shane Bhatla, the Transgender Program Manager at Out BKK, and Pauline Ngarmpring, who recently ran for Prime Minister, are three transgender leaders re-shaping advocacy at a crucial time for Thai democracy. The election held in March 2019, the first since a military junta seized power in 2014, proved to be a watershed moment for ...
Archives for May 2019
Celebrating the Power of Transgender Stories On IDAHOT 2019
Today, May 17, as the world marked IDAHOT 2019 (International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia), I spent the day in Bangkok surrounded by my new transgender family. In just two months of travel, I've already befriended an amazing community of activists from across Southeast Asia. This blog, TransWorldView, is where I'll be sharing their stories and my experiences as I continue to travel the world solo as a transgender woman from the United States. This journey truly began twelve years ago, in 2007. Back then, as the only transgender woman at Swarthmore College, I spent many of my days feeling desperately alone. I was shy, awkward, and didn’t go out to many parties. I had some gay and lesbian friends on campus, but I didn’t really fit in with them; they were loud, ...