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[DollyLamma]

"A secondary school in rural Thailand has designed a new bathroom that it calls a "transvestite toilet" for its growing community of cross-dressers.

The Kampang School in northeastern Thailand conducted a survey last term that showed more than 200 of the school's 2,600 students considered themselves transvestites, said school director Sitisak Sumontha. So, when classes resumed in May, the school unveiled a unisex restroom designated by a human figure split into two, half man in blue, and half female in red. Below the figure, it says, "Transvestite Toilet."

Three transgender students praised the new restroom as they plucked their eyebrows and applied face powder in front of the mirror outside the stalls."I'm so happy about this," Vichai Sangsakul, a teenager with a pixie hairdo pulled back with a pink barrette, told Thailand's PBS new channel on Tuesday. "It looks bad going to female restrooms. What would other people think?"

Most rural Thais are conservative in many ways, but the trailblazing toilet initiative at the school in northeastern Sisaket province reflects another aspect of Thai society: its tolerance of the country's very visible transsexual and transvestite community.

"These students want to be able to go to the restroom in peace without fear of being watched, laughed at or groped," said school director Sitisak Sumontha. Using female restrooms made some of the other students uncomfortable and using the men's room often resulted in harassment, he said."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25234970/

[B.I.G.]

The Kampang School in northeastern Thailand conducted a survey last term that showed more than 200 of the school's 2,600 students considered themselves transvestites

That's 8% of the school population, which seems rather incredible, especially for a rural school. What is happening in Issan ?