The Patong resident, a telecommunications manager, was initially approached to be involved in the organising of the Phuket Pride Festival two years ago.
“A friend invited to me to a brainstorming session because they wanted to give Phuket Pride a major overhaul, and after that one session I became the official fund-raiser,” says Ian.
Out of that initial meeting, the group of around 20 gay men decided to form the Phuket Loves You Club, and although one of its primary aims is to help the island’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, Ian, who is now the president, is quick to point out that it’s not a charity.
“We wanted to become a charity, but technically and legally speaking that’s rather difficult to do in Thailand, so instead we just became a ‘club’.” In this capacity, they have been organising and using the funds raised since it assumed the role of official organiser of the festival two years ago.
The first step was to bring it in line with other huge, flamboyant ‘pride’ festivals held around the world, including the famous New Orleans Mardi Gras and the annual Carnival in Rio de Janeiro.
With a packed schedule, Phuket Pride Festival 2013 certainly has something for everybody, including volleyball tournaments, art exhibitions, sunset parties, and of course the hugely popular Grand Parade.
It’s planned the proceeds from this year’s event (B350,000 was raised in 2012) will be split between helping provide education to the children at the Life Home Project (a shelter for women and children who are HIV positive) and supporting Andaman Power, a group that provides free counselling for people before they test for HIV. Any remaining money will go to a cause close to the group’s heart.
“We would like to develop some specific educational programmes that can be run at schools to help educate on the need for condoms, the dangers of unprotected sex, and how drink and drug abuse can affect people’s decision-making abilities with regards to making safe sex decisions.”
Ian said that as neither he nor the PLU had much experience in that field, they were currently searching for an NGO with relevant experience that could help target the message at a Thai audience.
Tailoring the message is hugely important, Ian believes, because of the differences in how AIDS and the HIV virus are seen in the West when compared to Thailand.
There’s a massive social stigma with AIDS, that Ian says stems from a common misconception that AIDS and prostitution are sole bed partners, and therefore AIDS is seen as the result of bad behaviour.
A clear example of the misconception and mistreatment of those suffering from AIDS/HIV happened in Chiang Mai in 2000, when villagers protested against the burial of a woman with AIDS – they said that they didn’t want the area’s groundwater to be tainted with the disease.
“Now many people are scared to get tested, then if they are tested and are found positive, they don’t take the medicine. They don’t want people to know,” says Ian.
“When they go their hometown they don’t want to go to hospital because, for example, their aunt works there. They don’t take medicine or get treated because they don’t want anybody to know, so they just die,” says Ian.
While, with its cabaret show and katoey culture, Thailand does appear to be more accepting of gay relationships and homosexuality in general, Ian believes that this impression is not entirely accurate.
“As Westerners, and with the areas that we visit, we often wrongly believe that homosexuality is accepted across the board, but this is only in certain areas – Phuket being one.
“Patong especially is a very cosmopolitan area, but there are some areas where being gay is not so accepted, especially if the [individuals] have AIDS.”
As well as raising awareness of AIDS, for Ian it is also about making gay people proud of who they are, a feeling that he knows all too well.
Answering the question as to whether there are many differences in being gay in the United Kingdom and Thailand, the 44-year-old smiles and says he wasn’t gay in the UK.
He explains that because of his rather “macho” British upbringing, which included playing rugby and even being the county fencing champion, it was never really an option.
“The world has changed a lot regarding gay acceptance in the last 15 years, especially in the last five years,” Ian says.
Ian’s brother is also gay, and has been ‘out’ for the last 22 years, so when Ian finally came out of the closet, his brother didn’t initially believe it.
“I never really had a ‘gay’ life until I moved to Singapore seven years ago. So when I finally told my brother he said “Prove it! Sing a show tune!”
For more information on all of the festivities, visit: phuket-pride.org
The festival starts on Monday, April 22 and runs until Sunday, April 28.