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Thursday June 28, 4:53 PMBangkok bar bars transvestite, gays urge boycottBANGKOK, June 28 (Reuters) - A Thai gay rights group launched a boycott on Thursday of a Bangkok night club run by European hotel chain Novotel after bouncers refused entry to a male transvestite.Under the slogan "Novotel, No homosexual", Nikorn Arthit of Bangkok Rainbow said he was urging gays, lesbians, transvestites and transsexuals to steer clear of the bar in central Bangkok's trendy Siam Square district. "When they have a policy not to welcome people like us, we are telling our people to go to have fun somewhere else," Nikorn told Reuters. The boycott came after Suttirat Simsiriwong, who works as a brand manager for a French cosmetics firm, was barred from Novotel's Concept CM2 club last week when bar staff checked her ID card and found she was officially a man. "They told me the hotel's policy was not to allow katoey to enter," Suttirat, 34, told Reuters. Katoey is Thai slang for cross-dressers, transvestites or transexuals. The club denied any discrimination. "What happened on Saturday night was regrettable but was most definitely not part of the CM2 nightclub entry policy, nor was it supported by its management," hotel general manager Michael Thomas said in a statement. On the surface, predominantly Buddhist Thailand appears very tolerant of homosexuality, with many openly gay celebrities. Katoeys are common in offices, schools and on television, and Bangkok is a global centre for sex-change surgery. But activists say it remains deeply conservative at heart and still has many rules discriminating against non-heterosexuals. |
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