The new law in Thailand is amongst the most “equal” of marriage equality laws in the world.
After a bit of worry that the law would never be enacted or would be delayed further, a few days ago the King of Thailand signed into law Thailand’s long awaited marriage equality which had been passed overwhelming by the upper house of the Thai legislature 130 to 4 last June. After the King’s signature, the law will now be posted in the Royal Gazette, as per tradition and in 120 days same sex marriage, or “marriage” as it will be known in Thailand, will be legal.
Although Thailand is third country in Asia, after Taiwan (2019) and Nepal (2023), it might be claimed that Thailand’s law is actually the most equal of the three and possibly of many in the world. Instead of enacting various provisions toward “recognition” of gay marriage, or writing separate laws defining gay marriage, often leaving out some rights of opposite sex marriages, Thailand simply changed its existing marriage law to be gender neutral, using “spouse” instead of “man” or “woman”. This means that every right (and limitation) available to opposite sex couples is now the law of the land for same sex couples, including inheritance, adoption, workers spousal benefits, immigration, etc. etc. There is literally not a single distinction in the law between anyone getting married to anyone.
Even in Europe there is a patchwork of gay marriage “recognition” or “equality”: some allow marriage but is has to be called a “civil union”; some allow “marriage” but it cannot take place in a church; some allow civil unions, but doesn’t allow adoption; etc., etc., etc..
It was a bit of a white knuckles ride over the past few months. After the initial jubilance over the passage of marriage equality in the legislature, the bill went for the King’s signature, but things seemed to slow down. The former Prime Minister Srettha Thavasin, who was seen as a champion of marriage equality — joining the lead in the June 1 gay pride parade — was ousted suddenly from office in August (it’s complicated and we don’t want to take sides here) . He was replaced by Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, daughter of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and niece of Yingluck Shinawatra, both of whom were removed from office themselves unceremoniously (the less said of that here the better) and forced into exile (the father returned earlier this year). It was unclear what the effect on passage of this bill would be upon the change in government from one that was known to be gay friendly.
With the King’s signature of marriage equality into law, the worry is over and by late January 2025, gay wedding bells should be ringing and gay wedding balls will be rolling out throughout Thailand.
Report by Glenn Anthony John Queerguru's Far East Contributing Editor. Once upon a loooong time ago, Glenn moved
from NYC to Bangkok (pre-covid, the most visited city on Earth Forbes mag.et al) and suddenly he wants to let
everyone know a bit more about Thailand (per capita, the queerest country on Earth – his stats) and maybe some
of the LGBTQI+ happenings in the neighboring countries also.
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Great news for Thailand.
Thanks for the report, Glen!