Personal stake and advocacy for MSM & HIV

[Excerpt from post by Roger Tatoud, msm-asia, 01 November 2008. Author, Michael P. De Guzman is a personal friend; the rest of the article is found in his BLOG.]

While there are no laws that discriminate against Khmer gays and (the more invisible) lesbians, there are also no laws that protect them. Like other countries in the region, same-sex behaviour is not frowned upon per se in Cambodia, as long as the man marries and creates a family. Buddhism views homosexuality as a result of a bad deed in one's past life, hence a more tolerant stance towards it. Families, meanwhile, are a different matter. One of the participants mentioned the effects of discrimination in the family on the health of MSM. Once a man is found out to be gay, he will almost always be driven out of his home and be disowned by his parents. Many of them choose to marry, while continuing to have illicit sex with other men.

Previous studies on MSM have hinted at the significance of this group in the response to HIV/Aids. Largely unreached by programs, they seem to be very active sexually with both females and males and do not access the existing information and services for MSM. Because recent developments have brought MSM under the spotlight of government, the donors, and civil society, at least in terms of HIV/Aids programming, reaching these 'hidden' MSM suddenly became an imperative.

A personal stake

I realised that for all the talk of programs, projects and interventions for MSM, a critical element was lacking in the MSM response to HIV/AIDS. A personal stake. I mean, we were talking about doing outreach, establishing MSM-friendly clinics and advocating for MSM. But on a personal level, what does advocacy mean to a 13-year-old boy who lives in a remote province who's just starting to realise he's different from the other boys because he is growing to be sexually attracted to them?

I remember that one of the reasons I got into Aids work (in 1994) was my own concern for my health and well-being. I wanted to know more to be able to protect myself from HIV, and help others like me. Along the way, I also learned that one of the elements that could determine the success of behaviour change is the personal recognition of one's risk. This helped cement my commitment to the issue until now.

Unfortunately, this is not the case in Cambodia, where most people got into NGO work because it is seen as a lucrative career. In the TWG, for example, how many people can honestly say that s/he has not said or done anything discriminatory against an MSM?

Discrimination against MSM in Khmer families is, by this time, a known reality. This has always been cited as one of the important reasons why Khmer MSM choose to hide their sexuality. But what is always left out in discussions on coming out is that "taking risks in coming out has tangible rewards" to use Lisle's phrase. The most obvious reward being, because one has been "unburdened"of the need to hide, he can now freely express himself, increasing his access to information and services that will benefit not just his health but his general well-being too. This is part of what I'm referring to as a personal stake.