Transgendered, Pol Pot, and Human Rights

At the meeting for Phnom Penh Pride, I interviewed a number of older LGBTQ Khmer folks. I didn't mean for this to happen, but each them had a sob story and cried. It was a sharp contrast to the glamorous scenes at the gay club where young middle class Khmer gaysians enjoy the nightlife and their relative sense of freedom.

But beyond the stories of families disowning them, loosing loved ones, and facing discrimination on a day to day basis, I walked away with a sense of awe. First of all, I've never really met an LGBTQ Khmer person above the age of 30. In fact, I'd like to say that Sarath Suong is the old living gay Khmer in America (LOL, sorry Sarath). One struggle we face in seaQuel is that we don't have role models. We don't have our elders to learn from.

This experience was incredible.


Sam Sila, age 41, Hospital Assistant for the Women's Network for Unity
Sila was incarcerated at age 12 by the Pol Pot regime. As a trans woman, they made her shave off her long hair and gave her extra humiliating punishments, such as making her stand in the sun all day or making her sit on an ant's nest. She has had a hard life, facing discrimination from her own family, and was never able to find a job. In the 1980s she joined the government army to fight off the remaining Khmer Rouge strongholds, but was later kicked out of the army because of her gender identity.

But she's fierce. She has turned her life of hardship into strength. She's attempted to take her life three times, and after all three times failed, she figured that God had a purpose for her. She's a former kick boxer, and now works as an assistant at a hospital. Today, she is an advocate for LGBTQ (especially T) rights!








Sou Sotheary, age 69, Executive Director for the Cambodian Women and Men Network Development

Sotheary is also a survivor of Pol Pot, and at age 69, she is a grandmother of the LGBTQ human rights movement in Cambodia. She has organized numerous events for the Trans community, which are often disbanded by the Khmer police. Sotheary made it very clear... she's not fighting for her rights. She's not fighting to correct the past. She is very clear that her life is over. She made the point over and over again, that she is doing this for the future generations, she's doing this so no one else has to suffer the way she has had to. You should hear her talk... she speaks with an insurmountable innate strength. And, she is the first and the only Transgendered person to submit her story to the Khmer Rouge tribunals.