A globally anticipated legislation to amend the National Gender Equality Policy 2020 is expected to be tabled by the newly elected Government of Bhutan led by Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay. International LGBTIQA+ rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said, “It is great to see progress in Bhutan: first with the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 2021 and now with the National Gender Equality Policy Review. As well as marriage equality, LGBTs everywhere need laws to protect them against discrimination and hate crime, LGBT-inclusive sex education in schools, and the legal recognition of trans and non-binary people. I hope the new Government will legislate accordingly.”
The ongoing National Gender Equality Policy Review by the National Commission for Women and Children, in consultation with Queer Voices of Bhutan and Pride Bhutan, redresses the straight, binary and unrepresentative existing policy, which contains a single mention of the ‘other’ identity. The June 2022 Consultation in Paro had more than fifty delegates, making it Bhutan’s largest LGBTIQA+ conference. Ugyen Yangchen Lhamo, an iconic transwoman from the first openly queer generation, said, “It is interesting to see support equal to the strength it took for us to be open. That is equality.”
The current Gender Equality Policy covers three domains: social, political and economic. The Paro roundtable adds two new domains, health and education, which account for the lionshare of the community’s problems with insensitive service providers and exclusionary systems.
Wearing the national dress in a professional or educational setting is mandatory. A case has emerged outlining the need to respect individuals who identify with a sex that they were not assigned at birth. The gho and kira are in need of queer reimagination.
I grew up around cis-men and cis-women in heterosexual relationships, without conversations around non-heteronormativity. I passed myself off as a heterosexual man, despite my identity being at variance with the label. I masked as homophobic and would invent girlfriends, feeling relief when rejected.
To sustain this straight subterfuge, I bullied people. I felt remorseful when a schoolmate I bullied attended my storytelling workshop. I took the opportunity to apologise and he forgave me. Being bullied is just the tip of the iceberg of repression; the sedimentary summit from being frosted and sustaining multiple glacial traumas- all the while compressing oneself into “normalcy”, a state of mental ill health as adults. This “normal” is where my self-deprecating humour comes from, which is self-harm.
As an eighteen year old in 2021, visiting Pride Bhutan for the first time, I experienced culture shock. Fresh out of the closet, my straight, binary mindset wouldn’t let me accept diversity. Deep inside my heart, I knew this was the environment I was looking for.
When I joined Queer Voices of Bhutan, I learned about Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC), which will be integrated into secondary and tertiary education following the Amendment. Using SOGIESC, I realised I was non-binary, queer and preferred they/them pronouns. In my self-awareness I have found freedom.
Patriarchal, akin to the rest of South Asia, Bhutan has a binary notion of gender, despite having diverse queer Bhutanese stories. Only 1% of the LGBTIQA+ population of Bhutan are comfortable being advocates, while most remain closeted or exploring for fear of ostracisation. Besides our allies, a sizable neutral demographic presents opportunities for awareness building.
Article 3 of the Constitution states, ‘Buddhism is the spiritual heritage of Bhutan which promotes the principles and values of peace, compassion, non-violence and tolerance’. Bhutan has its own queer secrets and Buddhism has key queer entities within it. According to Himalayan Art Resources, the celebrated spiritual guardian Goem Maning, a manifestation of Mahakala, is neither male nor female. Their identity is non-binary to highlight their omniscience. The deity makes me feel represented. Psychiatrist Dr. B.N. Raveesh observes that the simultaneous representation of a god as both masculine and feminine in their Ardhanareeshwara form, represents the unity in the opposites of the universe. The Hindu God Lord Shiva too is often represented as being joined in the same entity with Goddess Shakti and challenges patriarchal power dynamics in this androgynous form.
Though spiritually LGBTIQA+ neutral, Bhutan has had limited representation and widespread discrimination due to the erasure of gender fluidity from its history and culture. Being queer, I’ve faced being bullied in the bathrooms, being socially isolated and mocked. Like neighbouring India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, if your expression contradicts gender expectations, you are called a “Chaka”, a derogatory word.
Examining Bhutan in comparison to the rest of South Asia helps make recommendations towards ensuring a National Gender Equality Policy that protects and celebrates queerness.
Same-sex activity was decriminalised in Nepal in 2007, in India in 2018, and in Bhutan in 2021. However, LGBTQIA+ individuals face imprisonment in Bangladesh, Pakistan Myanmar and Maldives. Although Bangladesh has legally recognised the “third gender”, consisting of “hijras’’ or transgenders, since 2014, sexual orientation and gender identity are not legally protected. In Afghanistan, homosexuality is punishable by death.
The ages of consent vary in the subcontinent and need to be brought in harmony with international law to protect children and consenting adults. It is 18 years in Afghanistan, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Nepal and 16 years in Bangladesh, and Pakistan.
Consent should not be tied to marital status, especially since subcontinentals still do not enjoy the right to same-sex marriage. April 2024 brought with it the latest LGBTIQA+ win with Nepal becoming the first country in South Asia, and the second in Asia after Taiwan, to recognise same-sex marriage thanks to an interim Supreme Court order. In June 2024, Thailand became the third Asian country to respect marriage equality. However, in 2023, the Supreme Court of India declined to legalize same-sex marriage by rejecting a petition to replace the words ‘man’ and ‘woman’ with ‘spouse’ in the Special Marriage Act. Bhutan’s Marriage Act states, ‘Any couple approaching a Court of Law for acquiring a Marriage Certificate shall have to present before the Court as sureties a male person for the bridegroom and a female person for the bride.’ Bhutan should amend the Act to substitute gendered words like ‘bridegroom’ and ‘bride’ with ‘spouse’.
The 1977 book The World of Homosexuals by Shakuntala Devi marked a shift in South Asia’s discourse on homosexuality, calling for complete social acceptance, not just tolerance. Buddhist Master Rinpoche Dzongsar Jamyang Khentse advocates this, teaching, “We Bhutanese think we are a great species on this earth. We are very conservative. Times are changing, and we should be really tolerant. I mean, you should not be tolerating this, actually. You should be respecting it. Tolerance is not a good thing. If you are tolerating this, it means that you think it’s wrong. But you have to go beyond that.”
Bhutan’s National Gender Equality Policy Amendment Act is an opportunity to progress from being an unsafe country for the LGBTIQA+ community to enlightened recognition. There is hope because we have allies and intergenerational solidarity. Bhutan is at a juncture where it can cast its lot either with countries which celebrate LGBTIQA+ citizens, or languish in the umbra of unjust policies. It is for Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay’s government to decide whether Bhutan will toddle towards tolerance or stride with pride.
Contributed by
Sangay Loday
Sangay Loday is a twenty-one year old queer LGBTIQA+ activist and thespian from Bhutan. This article is syndicated by PoliTweak, which reimagines sustainable wellbeing and democratic peace in South Asia.