A marriage equality bill that was signed into law by Thailand’s monarch is the first in South East Asia to recognize same-sex organizations.
The bill passed the Senate in June, but it still needed imperial support to be law. It was published on Tuesday and may take effect on January 22nd, 2017.
The action was hailed as traditional by activists as the culmination of years of fighting for marriage justice.
In a region where such views are uncommon, Thailand has long been seen as a comparative shelter for the LGBTQ area.
The new legislation uses gender-neutral words in place of “husbands”, “wives”, “men” and “women”. Additionally, it grants same-sex people the right to adopt and inherit.
” Now we’re not just getting to read our names in union certificates, but we are also writing a website in story… that tells us that love not set a problem of who we were born to be”, Ann Chumaporn, a lifelong LGBTQ activist and co-founder of the Bangkok Pride movement, told the BBC.
” It’s a triumph of equality and human dignity”.
She said she plans to orchestrate a large wedding for more than 1, 000 LGBTQ people on 22 January.
” We are all happy and thrilled. We’ve been fighting for our freedom for over 10 years, and now it’s ultimately happening”, another advocate, Siritata Ninlapruek, told AFP media company.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra posted on X:” Thanks on one’s passion. # LoveWins”.
Previous PM Srettha Thavisin, who has been outspoken in his support for the costs, even applauded the growth as a” significant action” for Thailand.
” Equity and equality have become fundamental in Thai culture. In the end, gender diversity may be fully accepted. Gratitude”, he wrote on X.
When the legislation comes into result, Thailand may be just the second area in Asia, after Taiwan and Nepal, where same-sex people you get married.
In 2019, Taiwan’s congress became the first in Asia to legalise same-sex relationship. Nepal’s second same-sex coalition was announced in November of last year, five months after its Supreme Court upheld its favor.
The government, which said it would fixed up a board to decide on more legal privileges for same-sex people, made the decision just one month after India’s top prosecutor had ruled against it.
Singapore scrapped a colonial-era law that banned gay sex in 2022, but also amended its constitution to prevent the courts from challenging the definition of marriage as one between a man and a woman.
Thanyarat Doksone provided extra monitoring in Bangkok.