Thailand’s tolerance questioned as LGBT+ people fight for recognition in workplace

Natthineethiti “Nikki” Phinyapincha dreamed of landing a job with an international hotel chain in Thailand, when she returned from Switzerland with a master’s degree in tourism about a decade ago. 

She sent out close to 100 resumes along with her photo, but was still out of work six months later. 

Hoping for a break, she applied for admission to a highly competitive leadership training program at a hotel chain. She was one of eight finalists out of a pool of 3,500 applicants, but was later dismissed.

“I learned from a fellow applicant that the feedback was that I lacked credibility because of my appearance. That really stings.” 

Nikki ended up working in public relations but, as a trans woman, she often got asked whether she would need to use the male or female restroom or whether she would wear pants or skirts to work. 

Members of Thailand’s LGBT+ community rejoiced earlier this year when the country became the first in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, but Nikki and others say they struggle in the face of homophobic discrimination in the workplace. 

RELATED STORIES

Thai Senate adoption clinches passage of historic bill legalizing same-sex unions

Thai lower house approves final reading of same-sex marriage bill 

Together three decades, Thai same-sex couple hopes for legal recognition

Facing ingrained discrimination that blocks LGBT+ people from reaching their career potential, Nikki, 36, founded TransTalents Consulting Group, a firm that offers training and assessments for organizations on diversity and inclusivity. 

“The purpose of my firm is to make inclusivity a foundation of every firm. A sense of belonging, safety and diversity in the workplace benefit the firm and are good for business performance as new products can be developed or clients prefer to work with firms that are purpose-driven,” she told BenarNews.

Since founding the company in late 2022, Nikki has trained over 20 local and international organizations. 

“Firms in the private sector are gradually learning, while the bureaucracy is behind and still judges people based on their gender,” she said.

A number of LGBT+ professionals in Thailand have campaigned for more inclusion in the workplace and many of them have fought to bring about changes, either through policy advice or persuasion at the leadership level about the necessity of inclusivity.

Their mission is to eradicate stereotypes and attitudes that limit LGBT+ people’s working potential. 

“LGBT+ are often pushed to work as make-up artists or work in media and entertainment,” Nikki said. “So people have that perception about them. Even LGBT+ believe that perception about themselves.”

‘Microaggression’ 

In 2019, the United Nations Development Program published a survey on the experiences of LGBT+ people and social attitudes towards members of that community in Thailand. The report noted that most respondents perceived a stigma and had experienced at least one form of discrimination, such as having been called names or being made fun of. 

They were told to hide who they are and conform to gender conventions at school, the workplace and home, the paper said.

“It is microaggression,” said Nikki. “LGBT+ people, and also women, in the workplace often receive criticisms like ‘women like drama’ or ‘LGBT+ people are mentally unstable.’ This prevents many LGBT+ people from serving in the executive positions where they can make changes.”

Another member of the Thai LGBT+ community, 32-year-old Araya Chaiprasert experienced this from the early days of their work in the tech consultancy field, apart from having the issue of their credibility and looks raised during the many job interviews that they had.

“After I graduated, a question about my credibility was raised during a job interview and I felt that I was being scanned from head to toe the way they looked at me,” Araya said.

“Later I got the job, but they put me in a position that ranked below the one I applied for so I didn’t have to meet any clients. I turned down the offer and chose another place that was more open, even though it paid less.”

But in the job, Araya said they faced verbal harassment from clients, mostly male.

“When I started my first job many years ago, I had to visit many factories in Thailand to offer them technical system training,” the computer engineering graduate said.

“Many of the factory staff were men and I often received criticism like ‘Oh I saw your name and thought I was meeting a girl, but instead it was you.’” 

“I had to make myself believe that that was normal, but in doing so I compromised my standards [of how people should treat me],” Araya said.

For the past few years, however, Araya has experienced a different environment at work that no longer forced them to compromise as they moved up the career ladder. 

They have worked in one of Thailand’s leading banks as a technology product developer. In the coming months Araya will begin to serve in the role of a part-time university lecturer in digital product innovation and commercialization.

“I am in a better environment and role, compared to others,” Araya said. “Hybrid work helps too as it diminishes personal interaction and thus some personal judgment or criticism.” 

Dress codes matter 

In 2021, law graduate Chitchapa Panich wanted to get a lawyer’s license to pursue a legal career. There was to be a lawyer’s examination, held by the Lawyers Council of Thailand.

On the day she submitted her application, a staff member told her to also submit a doctor’s report confirming that she had undergone a sex reassignment surgery in order to be able to wear a skirt and take part in the test. 

Wearing a skirt, however, would contradict her official title of mister, and thus would violate the council’s regulations. 

“The staff spoke about my sex change in front of so many other applicants. I was so embarrassed,” the 28-year-old said.

Years and several legal tussles later, Chitchapa’s struggle for the Lawyers Council and the Thai Bar to allow LGBT+ candidates to dress according to their gender identity has borne fruit. Last November, the Thai Bar allowed LGBT+ people to dress in accordance with their gender identity. 

But the Lawyers Council still maintains its regulations. Nowadays, Chitchapa is allowed to appear in court wearing a skirt due to judges’ approval. 

Lawyers in Thailand are required to get a license from the Lawyers Council to work. The Thai Bar offers legal professionals another license called the Thai Barrister at Law.

Chitchapa says her fight for professional dressing for law professionals is not only for personal reasons or comfort, but will reverberate in the law and justice system, one of the most underrepresented fields for LGBT+ people.

“Law lacks diversity and most law professionals lack knowledge or proper attitudes about gender issues,” said Chitchapa, who is pursuing a master’s degree in tax law.

“Many of them don’t even know that there is the 2015 Thailand’s Gender Equality Act. Therefore many times when LGBT+ people pursue a legal case against discrimination in the workplace they are not suitably represented by law professionals, but by activists. When law embraces diversity, the more diverse people will want to work in law.”