BANGKOK - WHEN she initially pitched the idea for Thailand's first lesbian movie, it was quickly shot down. Producers called the premise distasteful and said movie viewers would find the story line disgusting.
After scrounging together funds for five years, director Saratsawadee Wongsomphet released Yes or No on an independent label to considerable acclaim.
The film's recent success in outwardly tolerant but traditional-minded Thailand is part of a growing acceptance of lesbians under the influence of the Internet and fashion trends.
These emboldened lesbians are not using Western-style activism. They are quietly pushing boundaries to find space for their lifestyle, harnassing pop culture and introducing a Thai variation of Lesbian Chic.
'It would have been risky to make this movie five years ago,' Ms Saratsawadee said about her directorial debut. 'Now people are daring to express themselves.'
Women in this Southeast Asian country are expected to be gentle, polite, even demure, and gay women in Thailand traditionally have been more discreet than gay men, but that is visibly changing. -- AP
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