Understanding and Challenging Stigma toward ... - Pact Cambodia

A3
Naming Stigma and Discrimination
toward Men who Have Sex with Men
through Pictures
Examples of Testimonies
long-term relationship with a man, which they have accepted. They now realize
they can’t change me!
MSM Short Hair
When I became a teenager I started to have sexual feelings for men. At first this
was confusing to me, because I had been raised with the idea of having girlfriends
and getting married. I fell in love with another teenage MSM and we had sex, and
I knew this was what I wanted. But I didn’t tell my parents and I kept my sex life
secret. They had no idea that I was MSM.
When I moved to Phnom Penh to go to university, I found it easier to have sex with
men, without my parents finding out. I had many relationships and felt very happy
about life. After leaving university I joined a company and began to do well in
my career. The only problem is that my parents kept asking me to get
married. Every time I went home for a visit, my mother would say,
“When are we going to meet your wife to be? You are getting too
old to be single. You should have children to take care of you in
the future.”
One day I went to visit my mother, taking along my boyfriend.
My mother suspected nothing. She welcomed me and my
friend, and invited us to have a shower before supper. We
went stairs and when we undressed, I kissed my friend, not
knowing my mother was standing behind me with a towel. She
looked shocked, said nothing, threw the towel at me, and went
downstairs. I felt very guilty. We stayed for dinner, but my
mother said very little. Over the next year my mother stopped
phoning me. I tried to phone her, but when I did, and my sister
answered. I could hear my mother in the background, saying,
“No, I don’t want to talk to him.”
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