Thai school offers transsexual toilet

By Jonathan Head
BBC News, north-east Thailand

A new toilet sign has been created at

this Thai school

With its spacious, tree-lined grounds and slightly threadbare

classrooms, there is nothing obviously unusual about the
Kampang Secondary School.
It is situated in Thailand's impoverished north-east, and most of the
pupils are the children of farmers.
Every morning at 0800 they all gather outside to sing the national
anthem and watch the flag being raised.
Then they have a chance to use the toilets, before heading off the first
classes of the day.
Kampang is proud of its toilets. Spotless, and surrounded by flowering
tropical plants, they have won national awards for cleanliness.
But there is something else about them too. Between the girls' toilet
and the boys', there is one signposted with a half-man, half-woman
figure in blue and red.
This is the transsexual toilet, and outside, in front of the mirrors, some
decidedly girly-looking teenage boys preen their hair and apply face
cream.
'Uncomfortable'
The headteacher, Sitisak Sumontha,
estimates that in any year between
10% and 20% of his boys consider
themselves to be transgender - boys
who would rather be girls.
"They used to be teased every time
they used the boys' toilets," he said,
"so they started using the girls'
toilets instead. But that made the The transsexual pupils are delighted
with their own facilities
girls feel uncomfortable. It made
these boys unhappy, and started to affect their work."
So the school offered to build the transgender boys their own facility,
and they welcomed it.
Triwate Phamanee is a slightly built 13-year-old who is adamant that
he will one day change his gender.
"We're not boys," he told me, "so we don't want to use the boys' toilet
- we want them to know we are transsexuals."
Vichai Saengsakul, 15, agrees.
"People need to know that being a transsexual is not a joke," he says,
"it's the way we want to live our lives. That's why we're grateful for
what the school has done."