Pattaya police have counted and registered all transgender prostitutes on the beach street of the resort town
All transgender persons standing along the beach street offering sexual services have been fined, registered and warned not to engage in prostitution on the beach. If the suspect is caught a second time and deemed to be engaging in prostitution, the fine will be increased, Tourism Police Colonel Somchai Theerapatpaisarn said, without specifying the exact amount of repeated fines.
A large number of foreign tourists are expected to come to Pattaya for the New Year holidays. Police do not want tourists to be molested or assaulted by prostitute transvestites, said Pattaya City Police Deputy Chief Lt. Col. Kruekrit Saivanna.
However, police made no mention of such fines or registration for suspected female prostitutes. Prostitution is illegal in Thailand but widespread throughout the country, especially in Pattaya.
In the past, Pattaya city officials have even claimed that there is no prostitution in the city, which has caused much ridicule on social media. Given such registration campaigns, it seems now the authorities do admit that prostitution does exist in the popular international resort, although they continue to remind the public that it is illegal.
The campaign to register transgender prostitutes in Pattaya follows numerous incidents of pickpocketing on the beach street, mostly involving transgender people who police say prey on drunken foreign tourists.
Meanwhile, the Pattaya Sisters Foundation warned against stereotyping transgender people and asked the city police not to consider all transgender people as thieves, prostitutes and troublemakers.
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