The Gay Bar of Laos

Source: FFWD

Deep in the mountains of Indochina, on the shores of the mighty Mekong River, in the UNESCO World Heritage site of Luang Prabang where every city block features at least two Buddhist temples, each more beautiful than the last, sits the only gay bar east of Thailand. Khop Chai isn’t remarkable at first. It’s a tiny bar that a straight man like me can spend 10 minutes in before realizing all the patrons are male. Though gay-friendly hangouts aren't rare in neighbouring Vietnam and Cambodia, an outright “out” venue is nearly unheard of. Khop Chai is so rare that if you meet a gay man who has visited Laos, odds are he’s frequented this bar.

Khop Chai is decorated with the typical Asian combination of bamboo and garishness. Rope lights outline every available surface and bright disco lights accompany shrill dance music that blares into the street. Inside, tiny, gay Laotians flirt shamelessly with middle-aged westerners. Drinks are cheap, the food is good and there is always a local willing to share my table and ask me on a date. There is not, it seems, any fear of the country’s totalitarian government among these gay men.

In a way it is safer to be “out” in one of the world's last remaining communist countries than in small town North America. “Geoff,” the American-born co-owner, asked me not to use his real name – not for fear of Laotian authorities, but so his clients back in the U.S. won’t find out his orientation. (Being a foreigner, Geoff really can't own anything in The People's Democratic Republic of Laos, so he shares both businesses with his Laotian boyfriend).

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It's very cool that gays are recognized openly in this area of the world. No matter how much people look down on them, they always have this little car to go to where they are always welcomed. Also cool to see the communist government worry more about things like prostitution and decadence than homosexuality.

British woman could face Laos death penalty

Source: CNN

A pregnant British woman facing possible execution in Laos will go on trial this week, the country's foreign affairs ministry said Monday.

Samantha Orobator "is facing death by firing squad for drug trafficking," said Clare Algar, executive director of Reprieve, a London-based human rights group.

Orobator, 20, was arrested on August 5, said Khenthong Nuanthasing, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman.

She was alleged to have been carrying just over half a kilogram (1.1 pounds) of heroin, Reprieve lawyer Anna Morris told CNN by phone from Vientiane, the Laotian capital. "For that amount of heroin the sentence is normally the death penalty," she said.

Orobator's mother Jane found out in January her daughter was pregnant -- more than four months after she was arrested, her mother said.

Jane Orobator heard the news from the British Foreign Office, which has been monitoring the case, the mother told CNN by phone from Dublin, where she lives.

She cannot believe her daughter was involved in drug trafficking, and was surprised to learn she was in Laos, she said.

"I don't know" what she was doing there, she said. "The last time she spoke with me, she said she was on holiday in London and she would come to see us in Dublin before returning to the U.K. in July.

"She is not the type of person who would be involved in drugs," she added.

Reprieve is worried about her health, especially given her pregnancy, Anna Morris said.

"She became pregnant in prison. We are concerned that it may not have been consensual and we are concerned that someone who finds herself in prison at 20 is subject to exploitation," she said.

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First of all. "I don't know what she was doing there" and "She is not the type of person who would be involved in drugs," don't go together. If you're a mom and you don't know where your daughter is then you have no idea what she could be involved in.

Secondly, the fact she got pregnant in prison is really scary. Isn't that against the law here? How do you get pregnant in a Laotian prison? Nobody can get into LAOS the country let alone into the prison. Raped by guards and officials is the only think I can assume.

So I'm torn on this issue. Yes you have to follow the countries laws and if it's the death penalty then there's really nothing the Brits can do. 1.1 pounds of heroin is alot! However, when the country is as lawless as Laos is and the prisoner got pregnant in prison!, then something is definitely messed up. All credibility of the officials is now void.

I think if something like this happened here, the case might be thrown out. Someone with a law background might want to confirm or deny that.

Student refuses to take 'demeaning' test

Source: KTIV

A Siouxland student says she wants answers from the federal and state government.

That's after the "No child left behind" law has made it mandatory for students who pick English as their second language to take an English language proficiency test.

But she refuses to take it saying it's discriminatory.

"This is a cause and it's not only for me, it's for everyone else out there who does speak a second language and does not want to get hurt," said Lori Phanachone a senior at Storm Lake High School.

Aiya! Most people can speak a 2nd language. But when the 2nd language is English, the education system has to do a review. Doesn't matter if your GPA is 4.0. Everything is computerized and nobody has time to study case by case. If you mark ESL, you're taking a test.

Lori Phanachone is proud of her Laotian heritage.

"I'm not going to deny my heritage, I'm not going to disrespect my mother," said Phanachone.

Because the 18 year old senior checked English as her second language, she's been put into a category where the government says she'll have to take a test to determine her English speaking and comprehension abilities.

"Testing of the students is federally mandated and what to use is state mandated," said Superintendent Dr. Paul Tedesco.

We're all proud of our Asian heritage. Doesn't mean we put a check mark beside ESL and put Laotian as our first language to prove our pride! Having English as your first language doesn't disrespect your mom! These two things have nothing to do with each other. I don't care where you come from, Asia, Africa, Europe, South America. If you are born in the US, your first language is English. End of discussion.

But Phanachone says the test is demeaning and she has refused to take it.

"For the federal government to throw that in my face, and say hey you have to prove yourself. I've proved myself my whole entire life, it's not right," said Phanachone.

She's got a 3.9 grade point average. Since the district considers her refusal to be insubordinate, they have punished her by asking her to leave school last Friday, missing activities and in-school suspension for three days this week.

The reason this girl has been fighting her whole life is because she keeps checking the wrong box.

For me it's easy. First language: English. Second language: French
If there's another option then I'll fill it in. It doesn't make me disrespectful or any of that BS. I speak my mother-tongue at home and to my friends and family. But on legal documents, English is the primary language!

Here's a personal non-racial example. I'm a University graduate.

If I go to staffing agencies, they know from my resume that I am a University graduate. What's the first thing they make me do? Spelling test, grammar test, typing test, keying test etc etc.. What am I going to say?

"I'm a fucking university graduate and these tests are degrading"?
I can't say that. In life you always have to take tests to prove yourself.