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LGBTI people in Myanmar: second-class citizens

Talking to Heinrich Böll Foundation Myanmar, Yaya Aye Myat, the Lasting Secretary of the National Transgender People Alliance, regretted that the LGBTI collective does not have any protection under the regulation. Even though the 2008 constitution guarantees equal rights and equal legal protection, she noted that LGBTI people do not appreciate such guarantees because they are treated like “second-class citizens”: A sentiment, which resonated with Zar Li Aye, a legal advisor with the International Commission of Jurists.

Official discrimination against the LGBTI community, particularly visible LGBTI people such as transgender women, is most visible in targeted police harassments, extortion, and arrests. In 2013, the LGBT community in Myanmar was outraged by a case where a collective of gay and gender nonconforming people were assaulted by police, arbitrarily arrested, and tortured while in police custody.

When questioned about the incidence in a parliamentary session in Mandalay, the Border and Security Affairs Minister for Mandalay region, Dr. Myint Kyu, answered: “The existence of gay men who assume they are women is unacceptable and therefore we

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Last updated: 17 December 2024

Types of criminalisation

  • Criminalises LGBT people
  • Criminalises sexual activity between males
  • Criminalises the gender phrase of trans people

Summary

Same-sex sexual activity is prohibited under the Penal Code 1860, which criminalises acts of ‘carnal information against the organize of nature’. This provision carries a maximum penalty of ten years’ imprisonment. Only men are criminalised under this law. In addition to potentially organism captured by laws that criminalise queer activity, trans people may also tackle prosecution under the Police Act 1945, with a maximum penalty of three months’ imprisonment.

The rule was inherited from the British during the colonial period, in which the English criminal statute was imposed upon Myanmar. Myanmar retained the provision upon independence and continues to criminalise queer sexual activity today.

There is some evidence of the statute being enforced in recent years, particularly against transgender people who are regularly arrested by police, and the rule i

Cause Project

by GlobalGiving Foundation

$89.00
Donation Goal

Project Details



Our venture, run by and for gay men and sex workers in Myanmar, will provide free, rapid HIV tests for more than 300 gay men and sex workers in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in the earth, and homosexuality and sex work here are still illegal. For the approximately 30 of those 300 people tested who will uncover out they are HIV+, the venture will support them to initiate and stay on HIV treatment for a year.



Donation Deadline

Deadline Not Specified

Project Website

http://www.psi.org/country/myanmar/#about

Project Location

Myanmar.


View all projects by GlobalGiving Foundation

2021 Myanmar Crisis: Implications for LGBTQ People

On February 1, Myanmar’s military, the Tatmadaw, orchestrated a coup, alleging voter fraud in the November 8, 2020 elections that declared the National League for Democracy (NLD) the winner. The Tatmadaw has declared a state of emergency and arbitrarily detained the civilian government leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi and President Win Myint. Several other political leaders and state officials, who publicly criticized the coup, have been arrested and charged under Article 505(b) of the Penal Code for “public disturbance,” issuing statements or publications to undermine the government, and/or “with intent to produce or likely cause fear or alarm to the public...offense against the State or against the public tranquility.” Penalties are fines and a potential two-year prison term. In response to the illegal military takeover, thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands) of people are protesting countrywide in a Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM).  

Over 1,700 protesters have been arrested including human rights defenders, journalists, artists, students, monks, medical workers, civil society activists, even nei