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In Common Cause As protesters continue to rally across Myanmar calling for an end to military rule and demanding liberty for the country’s democratically elected officials, LGBT+ people have been increasingly visible in the vital fight for freedom. BY STEVE PAFFORD
M
yanmar, a Southeast Asian nation of 54 million that neighbors Thailand, Laos, Bangladesh, China and India, went into reverse gear in February when a cabal of army generals staged a military coup and overthrew the government. With the intention of “restoring eternal peace” to a fragile territory riven by seven decades of ethnic conflict, they plunged the state into renewed political turmoil only a decade after the end of 49 years of strict military rule that saw the country abolish its old British colonial name of Burma and heralded the election of Aung San Suu Kyi as its most prominent politician. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, to give her the honorific name (literally meaning “aunt” of the nation) bestowed on her by her people, rose to prominence in the ‘8888 Uprising’ of 8 August 1988, going on to serve as State Counsellor, the country’s equivalent of a prime minister. She, President Win Myint and other senior
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