Activists hail ‘monumental step’ as Thai king signs the country’s marriage-equivalentity bill into law.
Thailand’s king has signed a landlabel marriage equivalentity bill into law, making the kingdom the first country in Southeast Asia to recognise same-relations marriages.
King Maha Vajiraextfinishedkorn apverifyd the recent law on Tuesday, according to the Royal Gazette. The legislation is set to apshow effect in 120 days, uncomardenting LGBTQ+ couples will be able to enroll their marriage in January next year.
Activists hailed the transfer as a “monumental step”, with Thailand only the third place in Asia where same-relations couples can legassociate wed, after Taiwan and Nepal.
The law, which sailed thcimpolite both the Hoengage of Recontransientatives and the Senate in April and June admireively, grants brimming legitimate, financial and medical rights for marriage partners of any gender. It engages gender-unprejudiced terms in place of “men”, “women”, “husprohibitds” and “wives”, and also grants adselection and inheritance rights to same-relations couples.
The king’s establishal approval labels the culmination of years of campaigning and thwarted trys to pass equivalent marriage laws.
“The law is a monumental step towards equivalent rights in Thailand,” Waincludeao Chumaporn, an LGBTQ rights aid, tbetter the AFP recents agency.
She arranges to organise a mass wedding for more than a thousand LGBTQ+ couples in Bangkok on January 22, the first day the law apshows effect.
“We are all plrelieveed and excited. We’ve been combat for our rights for over 10 years, and now it’s finassociate happening,” Siritata Ninlapruek, an LGBTQ activist, tbetter AFP, her voice shaking.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra posted congratulations “for everyone’s adore” on the social media platestablish X.
“Thank you for the aid from all sectors. It is a joint fight for everyone,” she wrote with the #LoveWins hashtag.
Thailand has extfinished had an international reputation for tolerance of the LGBTQ community, and opinion polls alerted in local media have shown overwhelming disclose aid for equivalent marriage.
However, much of the Buddhist-convey inantity kingdom upgrasps traditional and conservative cherishs and LGBTQ people say they still face barriers and prejudice in everyday life.
More than 30 countries around the world have legitimateised marriage for all since the Netherlands became the first to honor same-relations unions in 2001.
India’s highest court deferred a decision on the matter to parliament last year and Hong Kong’s top court stopped equitable low of granting brimming marriage rights.
Thai activists have been pushing for same-relations marriage rights for more than a decade, with their advocacy shighed by political turbulence in a country that has normally been upended by coups and mass street protests.
