BANGKOK - SENIOR Thai monks are to teach Buddhist etiquette to homosexual novices to help curb 'flamboyant' behaviour including wearing lipstick and overly tightening their saffron robes, they said on Thursday.
They said numerous reports of new monks plucking their eyebrows into a feminine arch, walking with a exaggerated swing of the hips and carrying handbags were all sullying the reputation of the conservative Buddhist faith.
'The aim of teaching them etiquette is to educate them on how they should act, talk, eat and dress properly,' leading preacher Phra Vudhijaya Vajiramedhi, who is launching the behaviour classes next month, told AFP.
'The biggest concerns are they don't walk properly, they wear lipstick... and carry colourful bags. Some also indulge in sexual behaviour,' he said.
But Phra Vudhijaya Vajiramedhi said that, while monks found to have sex in their sleeping quarters would be thrown out, homosexuality itself was not banned.
'Otherwise more than half of them would be defrocked,' he added.
The first lessons will be for 120 new recruits at the country's first Buddhist missionary school in the northern province of Chiang Rai.
'I believe after the school year is over, at least 70 percent of novices who have flamboyant behaviour will know how to act to restore respect,' the senior monk said.
'If we want good monks, we have to teach them when they are young,' he added.
He said he planned to introduce the course at other temples and religious schools in the near future. -- AFP
