Cambodian leader disowns lesbian daughter

By Staff Writer, PinkNews.co.uk • October 30, 2007 - 12:15

The Prime Minister's hardline stance contrasts with the views of King Sihanouk.

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The Prime Minister of Cambodia has told an audience of students that he is disowning and disinheriting his adopted daughter because she is a lesbian.

Sâmdech Hun Sen, 56, has led the country since 1993. He has five children, one of whom is adopted. His family is normally kept out of the public eye.

At a graduation ceremony in the city of Phnom Pehn yesterday, Hun Sen said he will file court papers to "deprive her of any will and property of my family.

"I educated the whole people in my country but I could not educate my adopted daughter," he said, according to Xinhua News Agency.

He and his wife Bun Rany adopted the girl in 1988 when she was only a few weeks old.

"She brought her girls to my house and slept together with them," he said.

"We are concerned that one day her girls take bombs and poisonous materials to our house and we all will die.

"We have to deal the legal issues with her. I used to send her to study in the United States but she could not finish her study and came back to Cambodia.

"This is the first time that I declared publicly the internal affairs of my family, because lesbian cases happened in Cambodia with large range," he said.

The Prime Minister's hardline stance contrasts with the views of King Sihanouk.

The monarch, who has no political power, has written favourably about gay marriage and his belief that "homosexuals, as well as transvestites, as equal because [God loves] a wide range of tastes."

Homosexuality is legal in Cambodia.

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