A school in north-east Thailand has introduced toilets for transvestites after a survey showed that more than 200 students saw themselves as transgender, a director said today.
Sitisak Sumontha said he believed the 2,600-student Kampang school, in north-eatern Thailand, was the first secondary to introduce unisex toilets.
"These students want to be able to go to the restroom in peace without fear of being watched, laughed at or groped," he added.
The toilets are designated by a sign depicting a human figure split in half - part man in blue and part woman in red.
"I'm so happy about this," student Vichai Sangsakul told Thailand's PBS news channel. "It looks bad going to female restrooms. What would other people think?"
Transgenders are often seen on TV soap operas in Thailand and are common in the capital, Bangkok, although rural areas are more conservative.
The country also holds transgender beauty pageants and the deputy education minister, Boonlue Prasertsopar, said the ministry planned to count the number of transgender university students.
"If there are a lot of them in a university and it's a problem, we may have to consider building toilets and dormitories for them," he added.
In 2003, a 1,500-student technical college in the northern province of Chiang Mai set up a "pink lotus bathroom" for its 15 transvestite students.
Just have single bathrooms that lock ? It's not like having pictures of both will solve anything. If you go into one than you'll still get labeled as transgender. Saying that they're considering building a seperate dorm for them is just unneeded. How can there really be so many of them for that ??
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