A couple of weeks ago, a beauty contest benefit for HIV-affected people was held in Mandalay, Burma's second largest city. A fundraiser for sufferers of one the world's deadliest diseases, attended by local LGBT rights leaders, might not seem like much of a story at first. But considering Mandalay was the worst city in the country for discrimination against gays in 2013, it's a positive step away from the events of the last year.
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Those events were numerous, but there was one that stood out, if only for what happened afterwards. On the night of the 6th of July, a group of 12 gay men were detained. According to Win Min*, a 19-year-old who was there that evening, the men were arrested for the crime of "dressing as a woman". After being beaten and humiliated for hours in a bid to "correct their behaviour", they were released without charge.Instead of keeping schtum about their ordeal, as the police had "suggested" they do, the group then did something that had never been done before in Burma's history: held a press conference to denounce the abuses they had suffered at the hand of the authorities.Attacks like that are nothing new in Burma, where homosexuality is illegal. A law passed by the ruling British authorities during the colonial period prohibits "unnatural sex acts", and since becoming independent in 1948 no Burmese government has abolished it.
"Harry", dressed in a male longyi – traditional Burmese dress – at an event organised by Mandalay's LGBT community. Since she was a child, Harry has always “felt ridiculous” dressing as a girl and feels "free dressing as a boy".For the past two years, however, Burma has undergone a shaky process of political transition towards what is being dubbed a "disciplined democracy". The notoriously authoritarian generals who have ruled the country with an iron fist for almost five decades decided to relinquish some of their control in 2011 and form a quasi-civilian government. This change has brought with it a relaxing of media censorship, the release of hundreds of political prisoners and the mushrooming of once outlawed civil society organisations. LGBT communities are now also organising themselves and, as a result, Burma is seeing the emergence of a small but burgeoning gay rights movement.
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Unfortunately, Burma's LGBT community has more to worry about than just the authorities. Burma is a predominantly Buddhist country and religion plays a large role in daily life. The strong Buddhist traditions, along with decades of national isolation imposed by the military dictatorship, have reinforced conservative attitudes to things like homosexuality, and thus pose a bigger obstacle to the LGBT community than any outdated legal codes.According to Aung Myo Min, founder of Equality Myanmar – the first organisation founded in Burma that seeks to address LGBT rights – many Buddhists look down on LGBT people as "strange creatures" who are paying in their present life for sins committed in previous reincarnations. Because of the stigma around LGBT people, many members of the community spend their lives negotiating their own identities in an environment where role models and support is scarce. In a society that is slowly opening up to the world, they are struggling to find their place in the new Burma.Photographer Vincenzo Floramo shot a series of photos during the time he spent with members of Mandalay's LGBT community. A selection can be seen in the gallery above.More LGBT stories:Can Everyone Stop Freaking Out Over Which Bathroom Transgender People Use?How Life Can Improve for Lesbian, Gay, Bi and Trans People in 2014WATCH – Young and Gay in Putin's Russia