Mandalay moat an oasis for city’s gay community

Mandalay moat an oasis for city's gay community

By Si Thu Lwin   |   Monday, 15 July 2013

The two figures sashay along the pavement in front of the Mandalay moat, almost directly in front of Sedona Hotel. With their slim figures, heavily made-up faces and long, straight hair, in the dim light the pair could easily pass as two young women out for a stroll.

Transsexuals walk along Mandalay's moat. (Si Thu Lwin/The Myanmar Times)

But instead they are members of the city's homosexual community, for which the walkway around the moat has become something of an oasis, attracting an average of 50 to 70 people each night.

"Oh, lovely boys are coming … I'm so excited," the two whisper to each other with a smile.

The proliferation of "gays", as members of the homosexual community like to be called, in fashionable women's clothing gives the promenade the appearance of a catwalk. Many openly flirt with men walking along the pavement. As the evening lengthens, the crowd only seems to grow larger.

"Our life has no pleasure in daytime," said Nan Shae Yati Soe, a makeup artist from Mandalay who regularly visits the moat at night.

"Most people make fun of us because they don't really understand gay culture. I hate the daytime. But even if we are tired from work we are very excited to go out at night after we fix our make-up and put on our women's clothes," he said.

The transsexual men who gather at the moat include both those who also dress as women during the day, known as apwint, and those who are described as apone – men who hide their femininity during the day but dress as women at night.

"I dress and act as a typical man when I attend university during the day," said Kywe Yoke, a first year physics major at Yadanarpon University, said with a timid smile. "I might wear men's clothes but my mind and feelings are more tender than a girl's."

Like most members of the gay community, Kywe Yoke goes by a nickname rather than his real name.

At night, this persona comes out when he dons women's clothes.

"At the [moat], not only has the number of homosexual men increased but also more young men visit. I believe that it shows their love and recognition for gays."

The gay men refer to handsome men like Kywe Yoke as asin lay, which means gorgeous man, and they refer to less attractive men as yoke ka soe (ugly face).

Kywe Yoke said he has already accepted that he will never have a wife and children and instead simply wants to lead a happy life. So satisfied is he with his sexual orientation that he said he also wants to be gay in his future lives.

The moat-side hub allows members of the gay community to gather without the embarrassment they would feel elsewhere during the daytime. It is also crowded with young couples and families and, unlike in other areas of the city, the police rarely harass them, although this is not always the case. (See related story right.)

"Since I was young, I wanted to dress like a girl. Now at work I dress as a woman but I have to try and control myself – my behaviour and my way of speaking – so that people do not misunderstand me," said makeup artist Poe Poe.

Nywe Pin, an engineer who is currently living as an apone, said that he feels hiding his femininity is essential to maintain his social status.

"I have a fiancée who was chosen by my parents. And I have a boyfriend too," Nywe Pin said. "I will marry a woman because I want a family life. This woman understands [that] A homosexual man can never change his feminine features."

Translated by Zar Zar Soe

Source: http://www.news.myanmaronlinecentre.com/2013/07/15/mandalay-moat-an-oasis-for-citys-gay-community/