I would disagree with your comment that a “gay scene” is emerging in Thailand. It has been around for several decades as Thai Gay magazines demonstrate. Unfortunately most of these have ceased publication with the moral crusade run by several governments (particularly the Thaksin administration).

What is nevertheless happening is a westernisation of the Thai Gay/MSM scene. The best person to discuss this is my Australian friend Peter Jackson, that you may now and who has done extensive work of the subject and who is currently setting up the Thai Queer Resources Centre (http://www.tqrc.org/data/index_En1.html).

One of most interesting story is that the first Thai magazine for men was produced by a straight man, a young student who used to work for a straight magazine. The magazine would publish pictures of naked women but sometimes of naked men. It is the amount of mail received after the publication of men pictures that decided this student to publish the first “gay” magazine, back in the 70s. Since then, the Thai scene has evolved in parallel to the Western scene but it is only recently that there have been more connection and influence from the later on to the former.

The Thai scene retains an originality brought by the world of transgender that is already part of it and gives it a different meaning and colour.

On the other hand, the internet in Thailand has been booming since 2003, and the number of Thai sites targeting a Thai audience is impressive, providing the nodes to a loose network where condoms are not often on the agenda.

Best regards
Roger Tatoud