Gay Boy Thailand

A Thai twist to the story of Chalerm fronting a protest against the military and being upstaged by the stars. Surprise. He got on TV after all.

Chalerm behaved strangely regarding this. He denied he was interviewed or would appear on the television talk show at all. But he did. I had set my alarm clock to remind me of the 10am show, which was just as well as Chalerm didn’t tell me.

Rather than a segment the military issue got half an hour. The concept seemed to be one of those “we help people with their problems” programs. The hosts were three ladies, including the one Chalerm had taken pictures of at the Department of Defence.

They certainly did show Chalerm’s military service book on the screen. As Chalerm had said a gay celebrity was the star of the program. What Chalerm “forgot” to tell me was that he was in the audience and that he was interviewed as well.

So there Chalerm got his 15 minutes of fame. Well, at least two minutes.

I watched the program with Chalerm and one of his school friends. Chalerm was so tense he literarily sat on the edge of the chair when watching the show. He was nevous on TV too. I would have been as well. And he beat me to it; I have never been on telly anywhere.

The broadcast was a happy occasion but it ended with Chalerm and me arguing. I wanted to know why he had said he wasn’t interviewed. “Up to me”, said Chalerm. I found this annoying and reminded him that I had passed this erroneous information on to others. It was one of those shyness/modesty things he sometimes does, like when he will pretend to have failed exams when he actually passed. It is a Thai “no” that means “yes” out of embarrassment or whatever. He does this rarely now because he has realised farangs want accurate information and are not amused having to guess when yes means no or a no means yes, but on this occasion the habit came back.

The program had two parts. In the first part they presented the problem, and the next day it was solved. I forgot to watch the second day but I understand The Beautiful Boxer was the star in that one.

All is well that ends well. I hope the military will do as they promise and no longer stamp ladyboys, transgenders, transvestites, gay boys etc as people with permanent mental illness.