The LGBT Community after the Myanmar Coup

“Before the coup, people used to describe us as cowards, and used the term gay as a symbol of weak, wicked, and cowardly. But they started realizing that it's not true, because we are also brave, and that we know right from wrong.”

It was really remarkable to hear the level of honesty and vulnerability that Pyae Phyo Kyaw brought to our interview earlier this year. He describes how difficult it was to be gay in Burmese society, to the extent that while growing up, he tried on several occasions to take his own life. Even after he was able to accept-- and love-- himself and his identity, he still faced overt forms of discrimination everywhere he went, from educational to professional settings.

So one can only imagine his surprise to see how the LGBT community participated (and was welcomed) on the street by fellow protesters in the days and weeks following the coup. For perhaps the first time in the country's history, they were walking arm in arm in solidarity with other Burmese.

When the military cracked down violently, Pyae Phyo Kyaw knew he had to do his part. So he and his boyfriend, both doctors, left the safety of their Mandalay clinic and headed deep into the Karenni jungle, setting up a mobile medical tent to treat those villagers being impacted by the raging COVID-19 pandemic, increasing aerial assaults by the Burmese air force, indiscriminate land mines placed throughout the hills, and ground attacks on villagers and IDP camps.

Through his sacrifice and courage, Pyae Phyo Kyaw was literally rewriting the script away from the false and hurtful ways that that the gay community in Myanmar had been slandered and characterized prior. Through the example he and his partner were setting in real time, they were proving beyond anyone's ability to doubt them that they were a critical part of the Myanmar community.