Thailand’s cabinet has approved a draft law on marriage equality that will be submitted to parliament during a session starting next month, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said yesterday.
Srettha told reporters that the bill is expected to be submitted to parliament on 12 December. Karom Polpornklang, a deputy government spokesman, elaborated on the Thai leader’s comments, telling The Associated Press that the amendment to the Civil and Commercial Code will change the words “men and women” to “individuals” and the phrase “husband and wife” to “spouses”. This will allow same-sex couples to receive the same rights that heterosexual couples currently receive under Thai law.
If the bill is passed by parliament and approved by King Vajiralongkorn, Thailand will become the first country in Southeast Asia and the third in Asia after Taiwan and Nepal to recognise same-sex marriage.
Considered by many to be a relative haven for LGBTQ people, Thailand has a visible lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, particularly in the capital Bangkok and larger urban centres. It is also one of only nine Asian countries to sign a declaration on LGBTQ rights at the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2011. However, the country has struggled to pass a marriage equality bill, and human rights activists say Thai law continues to discriminate against same-sex couples and LGBTQ people.
As Mookdapa Yangyuenpradorn of the advocacy group Fortify Rights wrote for The Diplomat in September, LGBTQ Thais “face daily discrimination and the legal hurdles that come with a lack of marital rights, including the right to welfare, child adoption, consent to medical treatment, joint property management, inheritance, and access to spousal benefits such as tax deductions and state pensions.”
The announcement comes after Srettha’s government was criticised for failing to put the issue on the agenda for the parliamentary session that began on 1 September. Srettha promised to take action on the issue during the campaign for May’s general election, but then appeared to de-prioritise it in his first weeks in power. In her September article, Mookdapa argued that “marriage equality is not a side issue that can wait – it’s a fundamental human rights issue that the new government must prioritise”.
The government now appears to have prioritised it.
Last year, the Thai parliament debated four bills, including marriage equality and civil unions for same-sex couples, but they did not come to a final vote before the session ended in early March. Ahead of the 14 May general election, a coalition of parties led by the progressive Move Forward Party, including Sruttha’s Pheu Thai Party, promised to revive the attempt to pass a marriage equality bill once in office.