Can Thailand’s transgender MP bring ‘equality’ to the male-dominated, military controlled parliament?

Before running for the progressive Future Forward party, Tanwarin Sukkhapisit was a celebrated director

Her low-budget but poignant films revealed the LGBT experience in Thailand’s hierarchical and patriarchal society

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Tanwarin Sukkhapisit, a party-list MP-elect from the Future Forward Party. Photo: Bangkok Post

Published: 12:00am, 10 May 2019Updated: 9:27pm, 10 May 2019

Tanwarin Sukkhapisit’s globetrotting days, attending international film festivals and events, are now behind her after she was elected as one of Thailand’s newest members of parliament on Wednesday.

A filmmaker known the world over for her bright red lips and blonde bob hairstyle, Tanwarin ran for the millennial-focused and progressive Future Forward party, formed last year by auto-parts tycoon Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit.

Now the 46-year-old says she is looking forward to breaking down and redefining boundaries in Thailand’s political system – something she has already done by becoming the first open “katoey”, a Thai term for a transgender person – ever to be elected to office.

“I want to use my image as a symbol that the parliament represents all Thais, and that not all Thais are the same,” she said.

Thai Future Forward Party co-founder and leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit (right) stands next to party secretary-general Piyabutr Saengkanokkul. Photo: EPA

Before joining Future Forward, Tanwarin was president of the Thai Film Director Association. For more than two decades, she has been celebrated locally and internationally for her low-budget but poignant films about the LGBT experience in the hierarchical and patriarchal Thai society.

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