ADVOCACYNET 413, July 30, 2024
Fear of Conscription Takes a Toll on Transgender People in Burma
By Madeleine Ekeberg Schneider
Second of two articles. Names have been changed to preserve confidentiality
Asymmetric conflict: photo above – the Burmese Junta has turned to conscription to bolster a faltering campaign; below – rebel forces draw volunteers seeking an end to repression and a return to democracy.
Peace Fellow Madeleine Ekeberg Schneider is a student of conflict resolution at Georgetown University. She has spent the summer in Thailand developing a partnership between The Advocacy Project and the Pao-O Youth Organization (PYO). Read Madeleine’s blogs here.
This article builds on my discussion with Hom, the trans man who was featured in yesterday’s piece. Hom was born female and presents as a man.
Hom has stayed in Southern Shan State, Myanmar (also known as Burma), despite the constant fear of being picked up and forced to join the military. His anxiety was palpable when I spoke to him recently on Zoom, even with his camera off to conserve electricity.
Hom is an activist for PYO, a civil society organization of young people from the Pa-O ethnic people in Myanmar that is opposed to the Junta. He tells me that he has twice fled from the Burmese military and the Pa-O National Army, a state-sponsored ethnic militia that is allied with the military and conscripting on its behalf.
Hom explains that he was well-known for his activism in his home village and frequently targeted by the military for his work with PYO. When the Pa-O National Army started conscripting people in his town, he decided to leave with his wife. He told other villagers that he was going abroad to Thailand but instead moved to a smaller village.
Hom says that the new village is safer because he’s less recognized and the fighting is farther away. Still, Hom tells me wearily, he is constantly thinking about security, and still attracts attention and scrutiny from his new neighbors. Born as a woman, he presents as a man – a young man of fighting age. As a result, he says, people stop him to ask why he hasn’t been recruited by the military or – alternatively – joined a resistance militia.
Meanwhile, the Burmese military – an extremely conservative and transphobic institution – does not recognize Hom as a man, so he is officially on the conscription list for women.
Women are not yet being conscripted in the area, so this discrimination has, in a way, bought Hom time. But it has not lessened his concern. He could still be arrested and forcibly recruited while walking down the street. He tells me that when he goes shopping in the city, he wears a helmet and mask to keep people from reporting him. Even at home, he says with a note of distress, he has nightmares about being arrested in the middle of the night.
Hom suspects women will be recruited in the next round of conscription, and his voice grows thick with emotion when he explains that his wife will also be at risk. She is one of the main reasons he has decided to stay in Myanmar instead of relocating to Thailand, as his brother and many of his friends have done. Hom explains that his wife is not from Shan State, so she hasn’t been able to get a passport. And Hom is clear that going anywhere without her is not an option.
Hom has already made the heart-breaking choice to cut ties with his brother and limit contact with his parents. He hasn’t even accepted his brother’s Facebook friend request because he’s worried about their communication being tracked.
Hom stills speaks with his father, but the two observe a strict protocol: Hom is always the one to initiate contact, preferably using a Thai phone number and only at night. If his father is alone and at home, he will answer. Otherwise he will ignore the call or run home to take it in private. Their biggest concern is that others living in Hom’s home village will ask questions and tell the authorities that Hom is still in Myanmar, leading to his arrest or conscription.
Hom worries about how he would be treated if he is forced to join the military. He hopes they would see him as a man, but if they were to find out he is trans he would likely be harassed. Hopefully he would not be assaulted, he says. This is more likely to happen to trans women, who, he explains earnestly, face more prejudice and discrimination than himself.
Despite all this, Hom tells me that he wants to go home, and I can hear his voice wobble with grief and exhaustion. He says he hopes the war will end soon, so he can make a life in his home village and finally sleep well again.
As we wrap up the interview, Hom jumps in with a final observation that has come up in several other interviews: Others are suffering much more right now and supporting them and their fight for freedom is essential. Hom says helping others through his activism makes him feel brave and gives him hope – even if it puts him in more danger.
Read the first article in this series here
Click here to donate to PYO’s humanitarian appeal for refugees
