Queerness in Vietnam

 [this piece was written during National Coming Out Day, thus the subject]


Although conditions are improving, the LGBT+ community still faces many barriers in many countries. Even in the supposedly free bourgeois democracies, like the United States of America, queer people must overcome large legal and social obstacles to live their lives. Hate crimes are a part of these obstacles. Queer people are often harassed. Some are killed.[1] This holds especially true for transgender people, especially transgender youth. It’s estimated that around 40% of the homeless youth population in America is queer.[2]


The situation in Vietnam is, likewise, tough for queer people, especially youth. In 2015, research done by the Institute of Social and Medical Studies, partnering with Save the Children, found that homeless queer people often faced horrific discrimination.[3] Regarding treatment by police, one trans person recounted:


“If there are a group of homeless people and one of them is transgender, the police will surely come and arrest the transgender first.”


There are likewise many barriers when queer people look for employment. Because of the stigma around being queer, they are sometimes looked down upon and treated as “second class”. One gay person recounted:

“Once I applied for a position as a waiter in a restaurant, but they questioned my ability to serve and carry things with my effeminate mannerisms. In the end, they didn’t hire me.”


Because Vietnam is a capitalist country, the degrading activity of wage labor is the only means of survival, besides being bourgeoisie. That some queer people cannot even do this is horrific.


In terms of acquiring the means to transition, an important step for trans people, the state has only recently put in laws to allow medical transitioning. For hormone replacement therapy many trans people rely on an underground market for hormones.[4] Many also go to neighboring Thailand for transition surgeries, although these surgeries are legal in Vietnam and clinics which perform them are open in Ho Chi Minh City.[5][6] Legally changing one's gender is also possible.


The State has used its media outlets to try and normalize LGBT+ people and relationships. VTV, the official television broadcaster of the country, used it’s segment Talk Vietnam to gauge the population’s opinions regarding the LGBT+ community.[7] There was generally positive reception and opinions. 


Overall, the conditions for queer people can be improved, and the fight to do so continues. However, only so much reform is possible under capitalism. If queer people want true equality, they must leave behind the liberal slogans of “rights” and fight for communist revolution, which is the only thing which can help queer people and the whole of the proletariat. The capitalist machine must be smashed! For communist revolution in Vietnam!


Sources

[1] Human Rights Campaign, 2020

[2] The Trevor Project, 2020

[3] Institute of Social and Medical Studies, 2015

[4] VICE, 2016

[5] This Week in Asia, 2019

[6] Asia One, 2019

[7] VTV 4, 2019

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