GAY MONKS TO LEARN “GOOD MANNERS”

Buddhist preacher Phra Vajiramedhi is set to launch a “good manners” curriculum in Thailand in order to curb the flamboyancy of gay and transgendered monks.

The monk told the BBC that he was particularly concerned by reports of monks wearing revealing robes, make-up, pink purses and effeminately shaped eyebrows.

Guidelines set to discourage this ostentatious behaviour will address issues such as smoking, drinking alcohol, walking and going to the toilet properly, which are all detailed in the traditional 75 Dharma principles of Buddhism, and the 227 precepts for monks.

Thailand is known to have a very large and visible population of transgender men, and Vajiramedhi acknowledged that it was difficult to exclude them from the monkhood. However he hopes his course can at least persuade them to curb their more extrovert habits.

If successful, the “good manners” course, at the Novice Demonstration School, would be replicated at other Buddhist monasteries and seminaries, he said.