Gay librarian’s suicide prompts LGBT rights debate in Myanmar

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06/27/2019

The suicide of a gay man in Myanmar who was subjected to “homophobic bullying” from his co-workers has prompted a national conversation on LGBT+ rights in the Southeast Asian country. Kyaw Zin Win, 25, worked as a librarian at Yangon’s Myanmar Imperial University. He took his own life on Sunday (June 23) after posting a final Facebook message about colleagues mocking his sexuality and forcing him to publicly admit that he was gay. Screenshots of the abuse reportedly show his colleagues saying: “We should send him to the army,” and “Don’t become an imbecile like [Kyaw Zin].” In the two-part post to his family and friends, Kyaw Zin says: “I bear [the pain] patiently, wishing it would end soon.” He says Myanmar is “a country which mocks the existence and identity of an individual being” and pleas “not to be reborn” in a country “where superiors oppress those under them.”

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