Bangkok Post - November 7, 2007

This is not good enough. AIA has a responsibility to do all it can to avoid discrimination, and must state explicitly why certain individuals are denied coverage or forced to pay higher premiums. If the company claims all homosexuals have "lifestyles" that make them riskier clients, then executives must explain exactly what they are talking about.

If it claims, for instance, that homosexuals are more promiscuous than straight people and thus more susceptible to terminal illnesses like Aids - which is certainly the implication when executives start linking homosexuality to "lifestyle" issues - then they must base this on some legitimate fact-based research. Studies show that gay men in Thailand are in fact not the highest risk group when it comes to new HIV infections. In what may come as a surprise to some, housewives are twice as likely to become infected in Thailand, according to a 2005 report by the Disease Control Department. The DCD report found that about 40% of new infections were married women who caught HIV from their husbands, while 22% were from men who had sex with men. Another 10% were married men who contracted HIV from their wives.

Last month, Deputy Public Health Minister Vallop Thaineua said the number of new HIV infections in young women and housewives would likely rise to 45% of the country's total new infections this year, while the number of new infections among men who have sex with men was expected to drop to 20%. It is a bit surprising that AIA still leaves itself open to allegations of discrimination since the debate about whether an insurance company can deny someone coverage based on sexual orientation ended in the United States two decades ago. In late 1986, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners came up with a policy stating: "Sexual orientation may not be used in the underwriting process or in the determination of insurability."

The debate turned to focus on whether insurance companies could take blood tests before deciding whether to cover a homosexual. But here in Thailand it is unclear if AIA even lets homosexual applicants get to that stage. Thailand's largest life insurer certainly denied coverage to the wrong man when it rejected the application of long-time gay rights advocate Natee Theerarojnapong, president of the Gay Political Group of Thailand. In June, when the Constitution Drafting Assembly agreed to recognise the rights of gays and lesbians by stating in Article 30 that differences in "sexual identity" could not be grounds for discrimination, Mr Natee wept. "This is what we have fought for for decades," he said.

Mr Natee is not the first gay person to accuse AIA of discrimination. In 2001, Somsak Chalachon, owner of Chalachon Hair Studio, alleged that AIA denied him coverage even after he passed a medical exam simply because he was gay. AIA responded by saying it could not disclose "personal client information" (even to the client, apparently) and said it denied coverage for "high-risk lifestyles". Although that case faded away, Mr Natee is taking his case to the Administrative Court in one of the first major tests of the new constitution. This may force AIA and other life insurers to become more transparent in their policies towards homosexuals.

While Thailand is generally much more open to homosexuals than other countries, individual cases of discrimination still exist - including the incident earlier this year when Novotel barred a transvestite from entering its nightclub. For all the progress that's been made over the years, homosexuals and transvestites still face social stigma. Each time a company like AIA, Novotel or any other takes a clear stand against discrimination of any kind, society as a whole will benefit.

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