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		</div><p><a href="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/ladyboys-to-be-flight-attendants.jpg"><img class="alignnone size-full" title="Four Thai 'ladyboys' have been recruited as flight attendants for a start-up charter airline (AP)" src="http://londonglossy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/min-ladyboys-to-be-flight-attendants.jpg" alt="Four Thai 'ladyboys' have been recruited as flight attendants for a start-up charter airline (AP)"/></a></p>
<p>Four Thai &#8220;ladyboys&#8221; have been recruited as flight attendants for a start-up charter airline that says it will be Thailand&#8217;s first to include transsexuals among its cabin crew.</p>
<p>P.C. Air, which will fly to several Asian destinations starting in April, had its first training session this week for 30 recruits, including four from &#8220;the third sex&#8221;.</p>
<p>Thailand is known for its tolerance for transvestites and transsexuals, known locally as &#8220;katoeys&#8221; or &#8220;ladyboys&#8221;. </p>
<p>An annual transsexual beauty pageant is broadcast nationally, and Thai doctors&#8217; well-honed skills at the snipping and reassembling needed to switch genders &#8211; not to mention bargain prices &#8211; have made Bangkok a sex-change capital.</p>
<p>But while katoeys are prominent in entertainment, frequently appearing on television series and in cabaret shows, other job opportunities are limited.</p>
<p>Phuntakarn Sringern, 24, from Bangkok, said: &#8220;I had applied to many airlines and was repeatedly turned down. They said because I was a transsexual, not a real woman. This is the first time somebody told me to come as I am and put on my best dress.&#8221;</p>
<p>Company president Peter Chan, 47, who worked as a flight attendant for 10 years, said he doesn&#8217;t &#8220;see any reasons we cannot let ladyboys work as flight attendants&#8221; as long as his carrier complies with civil aviation laws, adding: &#8220;I think it&#8217;s time for the Thai society to be more open and support freedom of all sexes.&#8221;</p>
<p>The airline has separate orientation sessions for male and female recruits, with the transsexuals placed with the natural-born women, and Mr Chan said the transsexuals must live up to feminine standards.</p>
<p>Becoming a flight attendant has long been the dream of Dissanai Chitpraphachin, 23, a native of Mahasarakam province in Thailand&#8217;s rural north-east and a former winner of the Miss Tiffany pageant for transsexuals.</p>
<p>&#8220;When I was young, I couldn&#8217;t take my eyes off those nicely dressed ladies in the airline commercials every time they came on the screen,&#8221; Dissanai said. &#8220;I simply want everyone to open up their hearts and judge us by our work, not because of our sex.&#8221;</p>
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