Dressing to win
by Wannapa Khaopa
Budsarakham Sinlapalavan
Sunday August 26, 2012 1:00 am

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Dressing-to-win-30189045.html



Baramee Phanich is looking forward to Thursday. That's when he, along with other Thammasat University graduates, will be attending the annual royally sponsored graduation ceremony. For Baramee or Denjan, as he's known to family and friends, the ceremony has special meaning, as he, along with four fellow transgender students, have been granted permission to dress as women.

Denjan, who was born and raised in an army barracks, says he's preferred the female way of living for as long as he can remember. "I guess I was born to be a transvestite. My environment and the way my family tried to raise me to become a man didn't affect me at all."

Denjan feels he has been very lucky, explaining that his parents gradually came to understand that they had a transgender child and finally accepted him as he is.

Denjan is planning to start work soon for a doctoral degree in social science and intends to use the knowledge he gains to serve others. He's also saving up for a sex change operation and is hoping to earn the right to call himself Ms too.

But for now he's concentrating on taking care of his grandmother, parents and his pregnant elder sister.  "I will also help my sister raise her child. I'll be a second mum," says Denjan with a big smile.