The prime minister has vehemently backed the LGBTQ community (Representational).
Bangkok, Thailand:
On Wednesday, the legislature passed a same-sex wedding bill in a landslide, opening the door for Thailand to become the first country in Southeast Asia to recognize marriage equality. The move was welcomed by Thai LGBTQ rights advocates.
Thai campaigners have struggled for decades against traditional beliefs and values, despite Thailand’s welcoming status for the worldwide LGBTQ community.
The bill passed with 399 to 10 seats in the lower house, but it still needs to be approved by the Senate and supported by the king before becoming the law of the land.
“Thailand is eventually accepted and recognized as certainly ‘heaven for LGBTQI’,” Chanya Rattanathada, 27, told AFP in the corridors outside the election room.
The final vote was accompanied by a small burst of applause and cheering in, with one member waving a rainbow symbol.
“Today, culture has proved to us that they care about LGBT right,” said Tunyawaj Kamolwongwat, an MP with the democratic Move Forward Party, which has longer pushed for LGBTQ rights.
“We will eventually have the same privileges as people.”
The plan may shift references to “men”, “women”, “husbands”, and “wives” in the government’s marriage law to sex-negative terms.
Following the passage of the act, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin declared he was “proud of our satisfaction.”
He wrote on social media website X that “the passage of this regulation in the congress today is a happy time for Thai society who will move along toward cultural equality and respect differences.”
Simply Taiwan and Nepal recognize same-sex unions across Asia. Last month, India’s highest court deferred the determination to congress, and Hong Kong’s top prosecutor stopped just short of granting full relationship right.
Making all equal, in my opinion.
“It’s a big step for our region– it is the first in Southeast Asia,” Mookdapa Yangyuenpradorn, a spokeswoman with dissident group Fortify Rights, told AFP.
Mookdapa expressed wish that the bill’s after levels would go smoothly, ensuring that her nation “will be on par with the global level in terms of LGBT right.”
The vote comes in response to a ruling made by Srettha’s government last year that gave the go-ahead for the legislature debate.
The prime minister has firmly backed the LGBTQ community, making the wedding justice plan a hot button, and claiming to do so last year that it would help community buildings.
Danuphorn Punnakanta, a spokesperson for the Pheu Thai group, welcomed the lower house’s choice following the vote.
“Today, Thailand is one step forward in terms of making people equal,” he said.
He emphasized that the rules do not violate the rights of heterosexual couples but may extend them to all types of relationships, as he had described it as for “all Thai people.”
“It’s merely a win-win situation.”
While Thailand has a reputation for compassion, much of the Buddhist-lot country remains liberal and LGBTQ people, while very apparent, still face barriers and discrimination.
For more than a decade, activists have been fighting for same-sex wedding rights, but the campaign did not go far in a country where politics is frequently upended by coups and large street demonstrations.
Thai legislators approved two same-sex marriage legislation in 2022, along with two civil partnership legislation.
However, the policy was dropped when the legislature was dissolved to make room for a general election held last month.
Plaifah Kyoka Shodladd, 18, told AFP that as the new rules approached last acceptance, there was a lot of excitement around it.
But for now, they said: “We are happy.”
This story was published from a syndicated supply, with the exception of the article.
