Lesbian activist speaks out in Vietnam
Nguyen Thanh Tam from Saigon is a lesbian. But being gay in Vietnam is not accepted and not easy. She felt so much discrimination and lack of acceptance that she even considered suicide – until she was encouraged by a teacher to come out. She wanted to help others like her avoid the pain and rejection she had felt, so she decided to raise awareness about homosexuality by organizing a gay pride festival, Viet Pride, in Hanoi. It took place last year for the first time. Tam and the other organizers learned a lot from the first event and are working really hard to make Viet Pride 2013 even better.
Listen to the report by Marianne Brown in Hanoi:
Lesbian activist speaks out in Vietnam
For Nguyen Thanh Tam, coming out took a lot of courage (Photo: Viet Pride)
Participants at Viet Pride 2012 rode bicycles so the authorities wouldn’t feel threatened (Photo: Marianne Brown)
The Vietnamese word for a gay person implies that it is a disease – something campaigners are trying to change (Photo: Marianne Brown)
Campaigners are changing their slogan this year to “Right to love is a human right” (Photo: Marianne Brown)
Here’s the Viet Pride website.
