Civil Society's Response to Sexual Orientation Discrimination: A Case Study of Rainbow Community Kampuchea in Phnom Penh

Abstract

The emergence of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community has accelerated in recent years, and with it sexuality discrimination has also emerged as one of the most serious issues in Cambodia. While a number of civil society organizations (CSOs) have increased in recent years, only some have been dealing with human rights of LGBT. This paper explores the response of CSO's to sexual orientation discrimination and to examine the conditions and limitations that have effected on those CSO's. The research applies a qualitative study. Rainbow Community Organization (RoCK) has been selected as the targeted organization for the case study. RoCK is very unique because it is the only CSO working exclusively and directly for the non-discrimination of Cambodian LGBTs. To gather information and data for analysis, semi-structured interviews with keys informants from RoCK, other CSOs and LGBT respondents have been conducted in the fieldwork in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The research found that having understood various kind of oppression and discrimination, RoCK has tried to work either at the grassroots or national level to manage and mitigate issues. Its main actions are LGBT organization, awareness-raising, researching and publication, and casework. It builds networking with diverse LGBTs who are in different locales and to create special events such as the LGBT pride and other seminars to make the public understand about the issues and rights of LGBTs. RoCK is also involved in research and publication, and deals with the casework of LGBTs. As a consequence, RoCK achieves its goals in working with discrimination at the individual and family levels, and it has LGBT networking systems in place in almost all provinces of Cambodia. Unfortunately, the ability of RoCK to work at the community and the State level is still limited due to some significant limitations, such as socio-cultural factors, weak implementation of laws and policies, and political factors.