Under Thai law all males are required to report for the draft when they turn 21.  If they voluntarily enlist Thai males must serve between six to eighteen months depending on their education and if they are drafted they must serve for 24 months.

Under their current draft system ladyboys have been rejected for suffering from a mental disorder.  This has made life much harder than necessary because in Thailand men are required to prove that they have completed their national service when applying for jobs or bank loans.  Once they show their military rejection forms they are automatically disqualified from many jobs and loans.

A senior officer in the Royal Thai Armed Services said Wednesday that they will be creating a new category for military service to categorize draftees as neither male nor female.  And they will cease using the mental disorder rejection for kathoeys immediately.

While the military tries to find a new word for this new category ladyboy conscripts will be turned away and given a form that states they have an illness that cannot be cured within 30 days.

To qualify for the third category, transsexuals will have to report for the draft for three years in a row to prove they are really trying to live as women.

This should open up many avenues of opportunity for the Thai ladyboys who will now be able to get better jobs as well as bank loans to finance such things as cars and houses.  I congratulate the Thai military for their open minded stance on Thailand‘s ladyboys.

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It seems that many of the men that visit Thailand have a preconceived notion that all of Thailand‘s ladyboys are also prostitutes. It’s true that normally foreign men only meet the ladyboys that work in bars and restaurants, however this is only a small percentage of all the kathoeys in Thailand.

I’ve met and been talking with several ladyboys on Hi5 and they cannot understand why so many think that just because they are kathoey’s they are prostitutes as well. This isn’t just limited to foreigners either, I’ve been told that many Thai’s hold this preconception.

When spying a ladyboy in tourist areas or going out late at night, immediately the idea that she is a prostitute starts to circulate. Why would people think this just because the person is a ladyboy?

I can tell you from my conversations this makes many of them quite sad. Thai ladyboys may be different from you and I that’s true, but in many ways they are the same too. They have the same feelings, needs and wants as most people. Many of them are looking for a stable relationship and would love to settle down with someone special.

Most ladyboys work in traditional jobs such as clerical staff, hairdressers or waitresses and they work very hard, just like the rest of us. It’s not fair that they have to labor under two prejudices. They are thought of poorly because of their lifestyle choice and then to compound this prejudice are often thought of as prostitutes.

I have no idea how many kathoeys exactly work as prostitutes in Thailand and yes the number is probably statistically higher than men and women, however most are still just normal hard working people. Please consider this the next time you meet a ladyboy, don’t immediately assume that they are looking to sell sex because you might be hurting, embarrassing and humiliating a very nice person.

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