By Rina Chandran
BANGKOK, March 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Pauline Ngarmpring thought she would take it slow as she began her new life as a transgender woman after transitioning at the age of 49.
Instead, three years on, she is a candidate for Thai prime minister – the country’s first transgender candidate for the post – and her days and nights are filled with campaigning, strategy meetings and media interviews.
It is an unexpected turn of events for the former news reporter turned sports promoter, who has quickly embraced her role as an ambassador for LGBT+ rights and gender equality in a country with few openly gay or female political leaders.
“Politics was my interest for a long time, and as a man, I was often invited to join a political party. But I was not in the right frame of mind until after I transitioned,” she said.
“As a woman, I am comfortable and have nothing to hide. I am ready, but are people ready to accept a transgender candidate?”
Thailand will hold a general election on March 24, its first since a military coup in 2014.
The contest looks set to be a showdown between the military-backed, royalist Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and supporters of exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Ngarmpring – who goes by her preferred name Pauline – is one of three candidates for prime minister from the Mahachon Party, and is not considered a front-runner.
But Thailand’s LGBT+ community is hopeful that she – and the nearly 20 other LGBT+ candidates for parliament that the Mahachon Party is backing – will help focus attention on their challenges and their abilities, an activist said.
“Her candidacy is significant because she is challenging the traditional norms of gender and sexuality,” said Anjana Suvarnanda of the Anjaree Group, an LGBT+ rights organization.
“While we have had LGBT people in Thai politics before, no one has asserted their LGBT identity in such a public manner, and there has been no public discussion with such a positive approach,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
