Being Same-Sex Couples in Cambodia
There is only one happiness in this life, to love and to be loved. There is no right and wrong to love and be loved by someone from same or different sex.
Same-sex marriage has been accepted and recognized by 26 countries in the world, started from Netherlands in 2000 and latest recognition in 2017 were Germany, Malta and Australia. Same-sex marriage is invalid in Cambodia. The Cambodian Constitution recognizes a marriage only between one husband and one wife. Although the late King Norodom Sihanouk had supported same sex relationship in 2004 via his public speech, there is no any law, policy or action taken to support same-sex couples until now. As resulted, the couples from lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex or queer group (LGBT) have not been protected by Cambodian law.
Same-sex couples are human, so their rights are inherent and shall be protected from any abuse or infringement. Seeing the discrimination and violation against LGBT groups from time to time, the United Nations (UN) has called all states to act urgently to end such violence and discrimination. Under this urgent act, all states shall ensure that LGBTs are equal to employment, health and social protection and recognize of gender identity of transgender and giving awareness to educate their citizen. Addition, same-sex couples are addressed by the Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. Under this principle, everyone has rights to found family and adopt the child; however, it is just a soft law and does not input an international legal obligation to the states.
There is no prohibit for same sex people to live as couple without having marriage license. However, without legal protection, same sex-couples face struggles in life such as the discrimination, property ownership and child adoption. Some same-sex couples get blamed and violation from their families to separate from each other. The communities look down at them and think that they are stupid. Employers think they bring shames and bad examples in their workplaces. When a couple living as a family, they want to own land, house and cars etc. The adoption could not be applied as their marriage is not legally recognized and if they take the children to live with, the child will be illegitimate because they are not entitled to obtain a family book and the couple could not obtain a parental status. One day, if the couple decide to separate from each other, their property and children would be subjected to be in dispute.
Same-sex couples are human, so their rights are inherent and shall be protected from any abuse or infringement. Seeing the discrimination and violation against LGBT groups from time to time, the United Nations (UN) has called all states to act urgently to end such violence and discrimination. Under this urgent act, all states shall ensure that LGBTs are equal to employment, health and social protection and recognize of gender identity of transgender and giving awareness to educate their citizen. Addition, same-sex couples are addressed by the Yogyakarta Principles on the Application of International Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. Under this principle, everyone has rights to found family and adopt the child; however, it is just a soft law and does not input an international legal obligation to the states.
There is no prohibit for same sex people to live as couple without having marriage license. However, without legal protection, same sex-couples face struggles in life such as the discrimination, property ownership and child adoption. Some same-sex couples get blamed and violation from their families to separate from each other. The communities look down at them and think that they are stupid. Employers think they bring shames and bad examples in their workplaces. When a couple living as a family, they want to own land, house and cars etc. The adoption could not be applied as their marriage is not legally recognized and if they take the children to live with, the child will be illegitimate because they are not entitled to obtain a family book and the couple could not obtain a parental status. One day, if the couple decide to separate from each other, their property and children would be subjected to be in dispute.
LGBT or LGBTI refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex population.
- Lesbian refers to a woman’s sexual orientation.
- Gay refers to both men and women whose emotional and sexual attraction is directed towards people of the same sex.
- Bisexual is used for someone who emotionally and sexually is attracted to men and women.
- Transgender refers to Transgender persons may self-identify as transgender, male, female, transwoman, transman, transsexual or other specific cultural identities, and may express their genders in a variety of masculine, feminine, and/or androgynous ways.
- Intersex refers to people who are born with a combination of male and female genitals that are either fully or partially developed.
In Cambodia, there is no official definition of LBGTI and same-sex couple; however, there is a common word to call people who are not female or male as “Khtey”. Khtey means someone who is half male or female. However, based on the report of Cambodia Center for Human Rights, same sex couples do not like to be called Khtey and prefer to call them as “neak sralanh paet doch knea” means a “person who loves same sex”.
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