LGBTIQ progress questioned
Information Minister Khieu Kanharith presided over a meeting on LGBTIQ pride on Wednesday, highlighting the community’s “legal rights”, the extent of which was disputed by activists on May 18. The statement was posted by government newswire AKP, which also quoted last year’s statement from government spokesman Phay Siphan, who said “Cambodian society does not discriminate against LGBTIQ people . . . no laws discriminate against them”. Cambodian Pride 2017 kicked off on May 12 and will feature various initiatives, events, and exhibitions until May 22. Say Seaklay, an advocacy officer at Rainbow Community Kampuchea who goes by “Pipi” and is himself a transgender man, said the government’s characterisation of LGBTIQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer) rights was not fully accurate.
