In the past I’ve suggested the boys interpret western sexual preference labels differently.  For example a Queen can mean bottom, or one with feminine mannerisms, regardless of preference for top or bottom. During my last stay in Pattaya I encountered another example of this.

Photo Courtesy of Gay Asian Network

I was in Happy Bar, one of my favorites, and ran into an old friend I hadn’t seen in over a year.  The shorts boys wore in this bar used to be different colors so customers could identify who was a top, bottom, or versatile.  The boys now wear shorts made to look like those worn by kick boxers, and they are all done in red, white and blue.  Some have a red waist band, while others have blue or white.  I asked the boy if different colored waist bands were a carry over from the old color code system, and he said no.

So for fun, I decided to test my observation skills by guessing what each boy’s preference was.  After all, who needs color codes to identify the obvious…right?  I gestured toward each, and said what I thought he was - king, king, queen, king, and so on.  I was accurate with all but three of the boys.  However, it wasn’t a matter of getting king and queen mixed up.  Instead, I was told three were gay. So this boy’s interpretation of western labels was king (top), queen (bottom) and gay (versatile).

I’m accustomed to being told “He do everything/anything”, or “He king and queen” to describe versatile.  Using gay for this was a first, and a good example of how varied Thai interpretations of western labels are.