Out of the Shadows

Yangon 20160919
Yaya, outside her apartment in Yangon.
Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

By Vilhelm Stokstad – Strict gender roles, colonial legislation and religion have long restricted Burmese sexuality. In Yangon a new movement is emerging as LGBTI persons are coming out of the shadows.

Yangon 20160919 Yaya and her boyfriend at a restaurant that doesn't stop her at the door, which is quite common at other places she says. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

Yangon 20160920 Shwedagon Pagoda and a main street in Yangon. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

Yangon 20160919 Yaya, outside her apartment in Yangon. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

Yangon 20160919 Yaya putting on make up and getting ready for a night out in Yangon. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

Yangon 20160919 Yaya, outside her apartment in Yangon. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

Yangon 20160917 A rainbow appears in a fountain in central Yangon. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

Yangon 20160917 Thar Ko and Ye Htut Soe on their phones in a park in central Yangon. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

Yangon 20160917 Thar Ko and Ye Htut Soe and Yayas boyfriend at a shopping street in central Yangon. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

Yangon 20160917 Ye Htut Soe shows a picture of himself as a woman on his cellphone. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

Yangon 20160917 Thar Ko and Ye Htut Soe at a massage salon "for men". Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

Yangon 20160917 Ye Htut Soe gets a facial massage at a massage salon "for men". Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

Yangon 20160917 Ye Htut Soe gets a facial massage at a massage salon "for men". Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

Yangon 20160917 Thar Ko and Ye Htut Soe at a restaurant street in central Yangon. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent

Yangon 20160919 Yaya looking at shoes on a shopping street in central Yangon. Photo: Vilhelm Stokstad / Kontinent