Myanmar’s LGBT people taught how to fight back by woman judo champ in country where homosexuality is still illegal and homophobes abound

Khin Cham Myae Thu, or Gloria Judo, is a judo black belt whose free self-defence lessons in Yangon have become very popular with the local LGBT community

Myanmar’s LGBT community is openly mocked and same-sex relations are criminalised, with many targeted by homophobes

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Khin Cham Myae Thu (right), also known as Gloria Judo, teaching martial art techniques to her students at her Body Art studio in Yangon, Myanmar. Photo: Lorcan Lovett

Published: 5:00am, 13 Feb 2020Updated: 2:50pm, 17 Feb 2020

With chubby cheeks and a nervous smile, 18-year-old Kai is preparing to attack his judo coach on stage in front of hundreds of onlookers.

Light beaming from the raised platform illuminates the crowd sitting cross-legged on the grass of the park in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, drawn to the spectacle and the colourful striped flags.

Some of them are familiar with the symbolism of the flags’ rainbow colours. They have been waiting for this, January’s fourth annual Pride festival, in a country where same-sex relations are criminalised and the LGBT community is openly mocked.

“Everyone is proud. I am so proud of them,” says Kai, a University of Yangon student who only has one name. Building up the courage to get on stage, he points his little finger – painted pink to symbolise a call for legislative change – to the sky. “Raise your hand and say ‘I am gay,’” he shouts.

Kai (left) with Gloria Judo and one of her other students. Photo: Lorcan Lovett

This is a bold declaration in Myanmar, which is among Asia’s laggards in terms of LGBT rights. In 2018, India abolished a colonial-era law banning homosexuality that had similarities to Myanmar’s current legislation.

In the same year, Hong Kong began to grant visas to international dependents in same-sex partnerships. Taiwan went a step further in 2019 and legalised gay marriage.