Military might use 'katoey' and 'psychotic'

The Defence Ministry may have to change the term "psychotic" in its formal description of conscripts who are transvestites following an Administrative Court case.

Samart Micharoen, second from left, and his friends hold up campaign posters calling for an end to discrimination against transexuals at the Administrative Court yesterday.He petitioned the court against the Defence Ministry’s conscription records which described him as ‘‘psychotic’’ on the basis of his gender. APICHIT JINAKUL

Only transvestites who have yet to undergo a sex-change operation should be called katoey, while those who have already undergone a sex-change operation would still be recognised by the military as psychotic, according to the Commissaire du Gouvernement in a case filed with the Administrative Court against the use of the term.
That was the conclusion yesterday of Krityot Sirikhet, the Commissaire du Gouvernement. An Administrative Court judge will rule on Sept 13 whether he agrees or disagrees with the Commissaire du Gouvernement's opinion.
A group of transvestites led by Samart Micharoen filed a petition with the court against the 2005 military conscription records that clearly grouped Mr Samart and other transvestites as people with a "permanent mental disorder".
Mr Krityot said only homosexuals who had undergone irreversible bodily changes should be regarded as psychotic.
Homosexuals who had enlarged breasts through hormone intake, for instance, were not counted because such physical changes remained reversible, he said.
Mr Krityot also said Mr Samart had not undergone a sex-change operation so he should not be regarded as a person with a permanent mental disorder.
Therefore, the defence minister should correct the term used in the conscription record of Mr Samart from psychotic to katoey within 30 days, Mr Krityot said.
Under Administrative Court case procedure, the Commissaire du Gouvernement is established using a judge from the case panel who is able to make conclusions to balance those of the panel.
Mr Samart said he was glad to hear the Commissaire du Gouvernement's recommendation, but he still had to wait until the final ruling on Sept 13.
If the judge rules in favour of the Commissaire du Gouvernement's opinion, Mr Samart said, he believed the ruling would lead to changes to ministerial regulations. He said he had learned that the Defence Ministry was also considering switching to a new term which describes how a transvestite's "sexuality and birth gender are mutually incompatible".
A group of about 20 sexual diversity activists showed up at the court yesterday to lend moral support to Mr Samart. They held up umbrellas in rainbow colours symbolising gay groups.