Thailand’s House of Representatives has passed a law recognizing same-sex marriage. If the Senate and King agree, Thailand will become the first Southeast Asian country to guarantee gay and lesbian couples the right to marry.
The House of Representatives passed the law with 400 votes in favor, ten against and five abstentions. The legal passage should be adapted to marriage as “one man and one woman” to “two individuals”. The official legal status of “man and woman” is to be changed to “married couple”.
The Thai government had previously had to accept accusations of hypocrisy from the human rights organization Fortify Rights. Although Thailand regularly rolls out the rainbow carpet for its Pride events, there has been no legislative progress, the organization writes on its website. With the law, the government is now adapting to social reality: acceptance and rights for same-sex partnerships have long been widespread here.
Last year, a similar bill failed before the general election. There are many obstacles for gay and lesbian couples in Thailand: They are not allowed to make decisions for their partner in the event of illness. They are no longer the heirs of their life partners, regardless of how long the couple was together and whether they built up their assets together. All of these obstacles should be eliminated with the new law.
In the kingdom, around 10 percent of the population belongs to the LGBTQ movement and are omnipresent in public life, especially in the entertainment business. Thailand is also known abroad for its openness in dealing with the LGBTQ community, which made it all the more urgent for the movement to adapt conservative laws to social progress. The expansion of protection rights is also likely to be in line with the aim of cementing Thailand’s reputation as an LGBTQ-friendly destination. That’s probably why the issue is important for Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s government.
To date, Taiwan and Nepal are the only countries in Asia that recognize same-sex marriage. This is still pending in Hong Kong. In India, however, the Supreme Court rejected the legalization of same-sex marriage because of a jurisdictional issue, saying the issue should be addressed by the government. The pioneer in Southeast Asia therefore remains Thailand. In the Philippines, discrimination based on sexual orientation is prohibited. Vietnam lifted a ban on same-sex relationships and banned so-called conversion therapy.