Date: 26 Nov 94 16:48:00 EST

   BANGKOK, Thailand -- Nestled in the lush mountains of central
Thailand, a luxury town of karaoke bars, cafes, health clubs, swimming
pools and massage parlors is being built for 2,000 gay men.

   The world's first all-gay village is being promoted in a slick brochure
with glossy pictures of handsome men dancing close, resting their heads on
each other's laps beside a swimming pool and gazing romantically over the
mountains with their arms around each other.

   With 70 percent of the 800 luxury homes already sold, the $32 million
project is to open next year as Flower Town.

   And not a single protest has been lodged.

   "In other countries, gays have to fight for what they need," says
project owner Dejdeow Srichai, a 33-year-old homosexual. "But in Thailand,
gays can do everything."

   Indeed, gays are widely tolerated here. They are called "flowers"
because, as Dejdeow says, gays are "clean, lovely, fresh, beautiful and
refined." They make no attempt to hide their feminine mannerisms, whether
they perform as waitresses and salesmen, or even in such high-profile jobs
as businessmen and professors.

   Seri Wongmonta, one of Thailand's most outspoken gays, confirms that
while there is some pressure on those in politics and the military to be
more discreet about their homosexuality, there is no social pressure here
against being gay. And thus, he says, no need for a gay movement.

   Seri works for advertising and public relations firms, as a marketing
consultant, professor, radio and television host, and columnist. "I've
been accepted in all these fields," he says. "They don't mind me being
what I am.

   "I was not that open," while living in the United States in recent
years, he says. "In America, when you are too open, people reject you." In
Thailand, he says, gays are more likely to be pitied.

   The devoutly Buddhist Thais believe people are homosexuals, lesbians,
transvestites or heterosexuals because of their karma. They generally
don't judge them for being different but attribute it to actions in their
past lives. It is simply their fate.

   Even with AIDS reaching epidemic proportions in parts of Thailand,
there has been no backlash against gays who often bear the brunt of the
blame for the fatal disease in other countries.

   Kongsak Boonyamwong, an effusively effeminate cashier at a major
department store, says he had no trouble getting a job in Thailand despite
his behavior and looks. He wears his black, shiny hair just below his ears
and brushes powder across his cheeks and black pencil over his arched
eyebrows before going to work.

   "I never try to hide," says the girlish-looking 24-year-old. "I like to
act like a woman. I like to have long hair. I like to walk like a woman. I
have practiced for a long time until it comes naturally."

   Nobody appears to object. "I don't care about being served by gays,"
says Paweenaa Rodmanee, an 18-year-old university student just outside the
store. "They are the same as me -- human."

   Transvestite beauty contests are held at village fairs and major
festivals, where they are taken very seriously. And gays, lesbians and
transvestites are common in Thai soap operas, with the sexual orientation
of the actors or actresses often having no direct bearing on the plot.

   "I wanted to be a woman since kindergarten," says Chanchai
Triwachirangkoon, a 21-year-old cabaret dancer. "My parents said to me,
'Whatever you want to be -- a man or a woman -- go ahead. Just be a good
person."'

   He had breast-implant surgery several months ago and is planning
another sex-change operation in the coming months.

   "In Thailand, so many men want to be women," he says. "It's
fashionable."

   Wanlop Piyamanotham, a lecturer on sex at Srinakharinwirot University,
says that is because they are treated well by everyone. Thai men like gays
because they don't have to compete with them for women and Thai women like
them because they are less domineering than typical Thai men and show more
respect for women.

   He says a study of gays in Thailand several years ago established there
were more than 1 million homosexuals in a country of about 60 million
people -- which he says is one of the highest rates in the world.

   Sarawut Thammee, a graceful, 25-year-old with smooth skin and long,
black hair, has larger features than most Thai women but, nevertheless it
would be hard to recognize him as a man.

   He has pierced ears, wears lace bras and panties, and otherwise dresses
like a woman. Sarawut even goes so far as to use women's restrooms, noting
that, "No one pays much attention."

   Sarawut, who likes to be called Sue, has taken hormones to develop his
tiny breasts and shapely hips so that on-stage as a cabaret dancer, in his
skimpy gold-sequined outfit and high-heels, he is a knockout.

   Sarawut says that every time his father is in Bangkok, he comes to see
his son slink around the stage as a woman to a house full of tourists.

   There are, of course, some adults who say they wouldn't want their sons
to be gay, transsexual or transvestites, or their daughters to be
lesbians. But many of them insist they would accept it if their children
refused to be straight.

   "If my son couldn't agree to stay as a man, I would have to accept
that," says Wasan Thassanakrn, a 35-year-old office worker.

   That tolerance is what Dejdeow is banking on to make his Flower Town a
success. The project has attracted inquiries from gays across the country
and around the world.

   He is busy these days picking through the stack of applications to
screen out the most clean-cut, good-looking, courteous men to frolick in
the town's 90 acres of sculpted lawns, lakes and fountains.

   "Thais are open-minded, not serious," Dejdeow says. "They respect
other's privacy. They don't think it's a big deal."

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