‘I’m so proud’: Joy as same-sex couples in Thailand can finally marry | Thailand

TEvery day, Chaweewong gets goosebumps just thinking about her upcoming wedding to her partner of almost eight years, Thanakorn Srikornthai. It will not only be a joyous celebration on a personal level, but also a historic event.

Thailand’s LGBTQ+ community has been fighting for the right to equal marriage for decades and, finally, on Thursday, 878 district offices across the country will open their doors for same-sex couples to register and get married. This will make Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia to recognize marriage equality, and only the third in Asia, behind Taiwan and Nepal.

“Just talking about it makes my hair stand on end,” Tawach, 32, said. The legal change will open the door to a variety of rights related to finances, adoption and medical care. For Tawach, this has symbolic importance. It means acceptance, he says. “I think it will help the younger generation to have more confidence in themselves, to come out of the closet, to express themselves.”

Tawach, 32, and Thanakorn, 36, will register their marriage on Thursday along with about 20 other couples at an event in HuaHin, a resort town south of Bangkok. Similar rallies are taking place across the country. In the capital, 300 couples are expected in the morning at a mass wedding, which will be followed by a speech by Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra, as well as performances and exhibitions by drag queens. Smaller events take place throughout the country, from Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen in the north to Phuket in the south.

Thailand has a vibrant and visible LGBTQ+ community and has a reputation as one of the most welcoming countries in Asia, but it has been a long journey for activists who have campaigned for marriage equality.

A cultural change

Ann Waaddao Chumaporn, who has spent more than a decade campaigning for legal change and is organizing Thursday’s event in Bangkok, says there have been various obstacles to change. In the past, media portrayals have created a stigma against the community, while Thailand’s tumultuous politics have also slowed progress, she says. Thailand has experienced two military coups since 2006, which placed power in the hands of conservatives and sometimes restricted civil society activities.

But the political mood has changed in recent years. “The pro-democracy movement was an important step, when the new generation tried to promote a new agenda,” said Waaddao, who cited a protest movement that first emerged in 2020 and called for democratic reforms. , as well as gender and LGBTQ+. equality.

Media representations have also changed. Today, Thailand is famous for its boy love dramas – TV series that tell stories of gay love and have amassed a huge audience across Asia.

Ruchaya Nillakan, 45, is also among those who will get married on Thursday. She never thought this day would come. Aged 16, her family told her that if she wanted to have a girlfriend, she had to leave home. At the time, parents worried that if their child was LGBTQ+, they would have trouble finding a job or be bullied, she said. As a teenager, she went to live with her partner, but her mother called her every day to ask her to come home. She felt guilty and the relationship eventually ended.

“I always thought it was bad (to be a lesbian), it was bad. (I thought) OK, I’m going to be a normal woman married to a man,” she said. She married, but her three previous marriages ended in divorce. She met her partner Nuttimon Sanyamast, 46, in 2023 and they fell in love and decided to stop caring about society’s expectations. “I’m going to be with whoever I want to be,” she said. Nuttimon had also been married before, and they were both at a similar stage in their lives, says Ruchaya, who runs a tax services company.

Ruchaya’s family now supports their marriage. Her father, she said, could see how well they got along.

Being able to marry will give couples equal access to various rights. Tawach and Thanakorn, who have been together for almost eight years, emphasize their ability to make medical decisions on behalf of their partner in emergencies and to apply for joint loans together.

They also believe the law will contribute to cultural change. Discrimination and harassment still exist in society, they say, especially online. Having equal rights can help change this situation. “I think I can be more open in society,” says Thanakorn, a barber. In the past, Tawach adds, there were times when he was hesitant to speak out. “Now I can be fully open,” says Tawach, who sells clothing online.

Mookdapa Yangyuenpradorn, of campaign group Fortify Rights, says the law is a first step but further revisions are needed to provide better protection. This includes moving to gender-neutral language such as “parent” in the civil and commercial code. “In the eyes of the law, biological parents are always recognized (in terms of) the man as father and the woman as mother,” she says. This may mean that in a same-sex couple, one parent has no legal relationship with their child.

Thailand, however, remains ahead of the rest of Southeast Asia. Malaysia, Myanmar and Brunei criminalize same-sex sexual relations, as does Indonesia’s Aceh province.

For now, it’s time for celebrations. “We are proud to be LGBTQ+ Thai,” says Ruchaya. “I’m so proud, stunned. I didn’t realize this day would come and I would have the opportunity to be with someone I want to be with.”