Tharoth:
Recently PC Cambodia has received a three-day training on the Same Sex Couple Initiative (SSxCI). It was an interesting training. I learned a lot about being LGBTQ in the US and was very excited to learn about the real issues of LGBTQ in Cambodia from the panel discussion. I know that we will face a lot of challenges while receiving the SSxC in this country due to some discrimination in the family and society. However, Cambodian people are friendly to foreigners, and I am sure that this will work fine in Cambodia.
For Fiscal Year 2015, we are planning to receive the SSx C Volu nteers and, as we are currently doing site development for K8s, I have been integrating the new idea of SSxC to the communities I visit. It has been nice to see the communities’ reaction after hearing that. Some accept the fact, and some are unsure. I have been introducing the difference of being a Gay/Lesbian couple in the America from Cambodia and educating them a bit about being LGBTQ. After hearing this explanation, some people are fine with that and some still unsure. This is just the preliminary try for the 1st visit with the school staff and local authority, and I am eager to hear more from the real Cambodian host families related to SSxC. Stay tuned for that!
Meghan:
In June of last year, Peace Corps Headquarters (Washington) announced that they would be inviting same-sex couples to serve. The Same-Sex Couples Initiative (SSxCI), as it is known, has been a long time in the making and was rolled out with the "pilot couple" in Ecuador right around the same time as the announcement. PC Cambodia was identified as one of a handful countries that would follow suit. So two weeks ago, I headed down to Phnom Penh as a member of the Gender Equality committee to participate in our post's SSxCI Workshop (although it is unlikely PC Cambodia will get a couple this fiscal year). It was a 4-day intensive strategic planning workshop/training that brought up a lot of questions. We were lucky enough to hear from Khmer panelists who are identify as and/or are active in the LGBTQ community in Cambodia, to hear their views on the acceptance of LGBTQ people and how receptive communities would be if a foreign same-sex couple was placed in a village/town. Two main things that I got out of the week were: 1) this initiative is just another aspect of diversity and a great way to further cross-cultural understanding, and 2) the way that Transgender is defined is not universal. Let me explain. The SSxCI is really exciting! It means a lot to me as an ally and I believe that being able to serve in Peace Corps with your significant other would be a powerful experience. (Maybe I will bully my future husband into another tour with me... jokes.) As for the definition of Transgender, I learned as an undergraduate Gender Studies major the importance of self-identification and the feeling of being born into the wrong body. I can say for a fact that my studies were limited and America-centric. In conversations that week it became clear that pronouns when speaking about lesbians and gay men were tied to the gender identity that the person presented. For example, while in the U.S. a lesbian may be butch or dress more traditionally masculine, she is still called a she. In Cambodia, that same person would be called a he and would be labeled transgender, even if she (my use) did not believe herself (my use again) a man. So while gender identity and transgender identity in America can be separate from sexual orientation or sexuality, in Cambodia this is not so much the case. MY MIND WAS BLOWN. While everyday I am confronted by difference in cultures, it is this one in particular that still has me reeling. And I can not profess to be an expert. I have just scratched the surface. And like that Intro to Women's & Gender Studies my second semester first-year, I am hooked and want to learn more.
Mary:
The Same Sex Couple Initiative Training was a three-day training put on by Headquarters in order to prepare the country staff for our first same-sex couple, who should be coming next year, if everything goes according to plan. After the extremely exciting announcement last year that PC would begin accepting same-sex couples, the people in charge of the initiative had to narrow down countries in which same-sex activities are not illegal or danger-inducing, and where staff were willing to accept and promote these couples. The training was for staff and PCVs who had a stake in the future of the program. There were around 7 of us PCVs that participated in the training.
The first day of the training included going over “the basics” of LGBT, Safe Zone Training, and Action Planning for when the same-sex couple finally arrives. Going over the basics of LGBT was like being back in college, where I spent a lot of time in the Gender Studies Department and with QuASA, the Queer and Allied Student Association. That session really boiled down to definitions of each of the letters in LGBT and the subsequent identities that go along with that. Safe Zone Training was mostly for staff, but it was nice to be able to have some input on appropriate things to say to someone, especially when it came to asking about “partners” rather than “boyfriends” or “girlfriends.” Action Planning was fun in that the PCVs who were there got an inside look into what the staff does every year when it comes to site development, and what things would be different with a same-sex couple (hint: it isn’t much!). Day 1 was also the day in which most of the LG&B volunteers came out to staff, who were as supportive and wonderful as they always are.
I found Day 2 to be the most interesting of the three, if only because of the two panels in which LGBT community members and activists came to speak to us about LGBT issues in Cambodia. Hearing about the real struggles that people faced in being “out” in their communities, especially in a culture with the gender norms as specific as they are here, was interesting, if a bit startling. It was also when the group discovered that the terminology we use in the States is, in some respects, vastly different from the terminology used here in Cambodia. For example, somebody who is “trans*” here is just somebody who dresses outside of the traditional gender norms, as we heard from one girl whose parents wouldn’t even let her wear pants. Day 2 was also the day we heard from the Country Director who was in Ecuador when the project was piloted (and successful!), before PC decided to start accepting SSxC applicants. He skillfully crafted the story of how it happened and how it turned out, and what Peace Corps learned from that experience. It was great to hear it from somebody who helped it unfold first-hand.
Day 3 was the most planning-intensive day, as we worked in groups to break down each step in which a same-sex couple placement would have to be handled differently than a single-PCV or heterosexual couple placement. From the point of view of someone on the ground rather than in the office, it was interesting to see everything that goes into planning where somebody will be placed and who they will stay with, especially when it comes to couple’s placements.
Overall, I found the Same Sex Couple Initiative training to be highly informative and a great experience to have with the staff. The trainers from Headquarters were wonderful and down-to-earth and I’m really happy I was selected to attend.
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