LGBTQ+ Workshop

On Sunday the 5th of May 2019, there is an event that was organized and hosted by the Liger students. In this event, the team invited the other four schools to participate in a LGBTQ+ workshop under the discussion of four different topics that are related to the LGBTQ+ community. I, as a participant, really learned a lot from this workshop. From the Language session to Health and Violence to Culture and to Law, the engagement from other participants was really fascinating. I feel attached most with the Language and Health/Violence sessions. Not only we, Cambodia, are lacking in words to depict those people in the LGBTQ+ community, we also have a lacking of specific words in other concepts. With lacking words, we have more chance of generalizing people into a bigger group that they might not belong to. For instance, the words to describe those genders in the LGBTQ+ community are still lacking in Cambodia; we only have one word to depict those different kinds of genders in this community: ខ្ទើយ [kh’taey]. When we have lacking words to describe those different genders in this community it creates a miscommunication between people inside and outside of this community. Aside from the language session, the health and violence session is really sensitive. The session leaders shared us a creative story with the intention to open our eyes and see what are the problems that those people in this community face every day. I really learned a lot from the experience. I hope to see more of the event and the conversation about the topic more in Cambodia. The more we talk the more normal the topic is.