1 of 2 | Same-sex couples posed for a photo on Wednesday with Thailand’s Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra (front row, C) during a photo shoot at the Government House in Bangkok. Photo By Rungroj Yongrit/EPA-EFE
Jan. 22 (UPI) — Hundreds of couples this week are poised to marry in Thailand as its overwhelmingly popular marriage equality law goes into effect, according to multiple reports.
“This could be a model for the world because we now have Thailand as a model,” stated Kittinun Daramadhaj, a lawyer and president of the Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand.
The bill going into effect Thursday was signed into law in September by Thai King Maha Vajiralonghorn after the country’s Senate last year in June passed the landmark bill in a 130-4 vote with 18 abstentions.
It laid the groundwork for Thailand to be the first Southeast Asian nation — and the third in Asia — to give married same-sex partners equal legal protection. It follows Taiwan in 2019 and Nepal a few years later in 2023.
“There is true marriage equality in Thailand,” added Daramadhaj, who had been fighting with Thailand’s Rainbow Sky Association to pass the law.
The bill used gender-neutral language to replace “men,” “women,” “wives” and “husbands.” It will now further permit equal access to adoption, in vitro fertilization and grants tax, property and inheritance rights in 878 districts throughout Thailand.
“This demonstrates that Thailand is ready to embrace diversity and accept love in all its forms,” Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra said last week at an event.
A 2023 government survey indicated public support for the law was a staggering 96.6% among the Thai public.
“Today shows that our country is open and accepting,” the 38-year-old Pheu Thai Party leader said as she hailed the new law and invited LGBTQ+ activists and couples to government offices.
Meanwhile, hundreds of couples on Thursday are set to wed in downtown Bangkok — the Thai capital city — as same-sex unions become law.
At least 200 couples were signed-up for a mass wedding at a popular downtown shopping mall, according to Bangkok Pride, at a rainbow flag-studded “pride carpet” event to see the likes of drag queens, celebrities and scores of newlyweds.
“We are all delighted and excited,” Siritata Ninlapruek, an activist in Bangkok, told LGBTQ Nation. “We’ve been fighting for our rights for over 10 years, and now it’s finally happening.”
Thailand, meanwhile, is home to an estimated 314,000 transgender people of its nearly 72 millions citizens, the Asia Pacific Transgender Network says.
“Even now, as a Thai person, they still look down on us, seeing us as a joke,” Nina Chetniphat Chuadkhunthod, a transgender person who will wed their partner of 22 years on Thursday, told CNN. “They laugh and smile, nudging each other while looking at us,” added Chuadkhunthod.
But LGBTQ+ people will be a key target for the Thai tourism industry as the demographic reportedly spend 40% higher on average than other tourists, the Bangkok Post reported.
Marketing efforts will roll out next month aimed to capture the global LGBTQ+ population in travel activity as it looks to Thai Pride Events for 2025, according to Thailand’s Tourism Authority.