Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced this week that he is severing all ties with his adopted daughter because she is a lesbian and living with another woman. He made the remark in a speech at graduation ceremonies at a Phnom Penh university. But Hun Sen, who is usually silent about his family life, told students they should not discriminate against gays. "I'd like to take this opportunity to appeal to parents and society not to discriminate against them," he told the graduating class, adding that "Most [gays] are good people and are not doing alcohol, drugs or racing vehicles [like many young people]." He did not say why he felt his suggestion should not apply to his own family. "My adopted daughter now has a wife. I'm quite disappointed," Hun Sen said. The Prime Minister said that he intends to go to court to have his daughter, who he did not name, formally disowned so that she could not claim any inheritance. "We are concerned that she might one day cause us trouble ... and try to stake her claim for a share of our assets," he said. Cambodia's LGBT community is mostly closeted although former king Norodom Sihanouk has spoken out several times on behalf of gay rights. In 2004 he said that same-sex couples should be allowed to get married. The king made the comment after watching television news coverage of gay weddings in San Francisco. "Since the Cambodian government chose in 1993 to be a liberal democracy, it should allow marriage between man and man ... or between woman and woman,” the king said in a signed statement in French posted on his website. He also said that the transgendered should be "accepted and well-treated in our national community."
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Wednesday, 31st October 2007 - 9:49am