Chantalak, 36, is a lesbian activist who believes in the power of media to create public awareness on gay and lesbian rights and, more importantly, to help gays and lesbians feel confident about themselves and to realise their rights to live their lives as equals in society.

Chantalak is the founder of Sapaan, an alternative media source for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people (LGBT). When her organization joined the National Book Fair in Thailand recently, their booth was searched and three books were banned for portraying "sexually explicit" love scenes between lesbian lovers, Bangkok Post reports in a feature on Chatalak.

The books are romantic short stories about same-sex relationships, and the passages they contain involving sexual acts are only a small part of the narratives. This is the case in seized novel She 3. When the books were confiscated, Chantalak could do nothing but watch. "But I wouldn't let that happen again," she said firmly.

Never, she stressed, would she accept the authority's judgement and stop publishing gay and lesbian novels.

"Our books are not underground works of pornography but romantic novels. Lesbian or gay books are not only just about sex, but about love, relationships and lifestyle. The authorities should be more open-minded," she said.

Chankalak is an only child brought up by her mother and grandmother in a small town in Phetchabun Province. She spent most of her time as a child reading, she recalled for the Post, but when it came to sexual orientation and gender identity issues, young Chantalak felt like she was a big fish in a small pond, not knowing what was happening outside her little world.

" I never knew that a girl can fall in love with another girl," she recalled. "I used to see that one woman in my village lived with another woman but I didn't understand why they both were female but they stayed together as a family and took good care of each other. I didn't understand that they were in a relationship. I didn't realize that same-sex relationships existed."

Her life took an unexpected turn when she finished high school, began working as a writer and entered into an unexpected relationship with a female friend. In 1996, when Thailand's first lesbian organization Anjaree launched its debut newsletter called Anjareesan, Chantalak decided to come out and joined the Anjaree group.

Although gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people have become more visible in Thailand today, they are still labeled as confused and maladjusted in society, she said.

"Many LGBT people still feel alienated. They have to have great confidence in their ability and efforts to be accepted by other people. There are still many people who view homosexuals as sex-obsessed freaks and queers. Many also think that same-sex relationships are unstable. But perhaps it's the society itself that creates relationship instability," she said.

Chantawak explained that the group she works with, Sapaan also serves as an LGBT consultancy and advocacy group. It recently organized a symposium to discuss a set of principles that denounce discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity as well as promote the need to recognize the rights of transgendered individuals. 

"I believe that committed same-sex relationships deserve the same protection and benefits as those which opposite-sex couples receive," she told the Post. But she added, "Though there seems to be a long way to go, I still hope for the best."

For Chantalak, family is not limited to "dual" parenthood in the conventional sense, but it can extend to single parenthood or same-sex parenthood. "Family is not just about a father, mother and children relationship. Parents can be mother and mother, father and father, or friend and friend. It's better to emphasize the quality of the parent rather than their sexual identity," she said.

Chantawak's works have not gone unnoticed. She was honoured with the "Female Human Rights Defender Award" in 2007 by Thailand's National Human Rights Commission.

Full article: Rainbow warrior | Bangkok Post