20 Mar 2000

Gay volleyballers pack Thai cinemas but remain in the closet

Bangkok, Thailand - A riotous Thai movie immortalising the triumphs of a real-life gay volleyball team has sparked wild excitement among cinema audiences here renowned for their conservative tastes.But the runaway success of the slapstick comedy Satree Lex (Iron ladies) forms an ironic contrast to the struggle for acceptance faced by Thailand's homosexual community in a rigidly traditional society.

Satree Lex tells the story of the lives and loves of a predominantly gay volleyball team from Bangkok which won a gold medal in Thailand's National Games in 1996. As well as portraying the team's sporting success, it delves into the personal lives of the players, emphasizing their struggle to build team spirit. Movie-goers have been cramming into theatres in their thousands, sending the low-budget feature shooting to the top of movie charts dominated by subtitled Western blockbusters. Satree Lex has earned 76 million baht (two million dollars) in the two weeks since its release and is the second most popular Thai movie ever after last year's epic Nang Nak. Hilarious scenes of camp free-wheeling frivolity played out on the big screen however do not reflect the semi-covert reality of gay life in Thailand.

Only one of the actors in the movie is a genuine gay, reflecting the unease of Thailand's conventional cinema audiences when confronted with homosexuality. Prominent academic Seri Wongmontha, who came out as a gay decades ago, said Thailand would still not accept a "gay" movie. "If they had cast real gay people, people would not have gone to see the movie as they do not want to support gays," he said.

While gays and lesbians do not face persecution in Thailand, they are peacefully tolerated rather than viewed as legitimate members of society. And gays must also live with the stigma of AIDS, which is often still viewed as a "gay plague" here, despite the notorious red light districts of the capital and Pattaya which have been a breeding ground for the disease. Some gay campaigners have expressed concern that the movie, far from helping Thai gays win mainstream acceptance, will make their lives more miserable.

Gay rights activists Pakorn Pimthon, 37, was worried that the movie lampoons gays by using camp stereotypes. "Society is changing now and gays are changing along with it, but we do not overtly express ourselves in an outrageous way anymore," Pakorn said.

The director of Satree Lex, Yongyoot Thongkongtoon, told AFP that he was not aiming to make a political point about homosexuality by making the film. Rather, he said, the movie was supposed to reflect universal values as hard work and perseverence.

- AFP with modifications