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Same-sex marriage in Thailand

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Part of the LGBTQ rights series
Marriage

Recognized

Civil unions or registered partnerships but not marriage
Minimal recognition
See also
Notes
  1. ^ a b Performed in the Netherlands proper (including the Caribbean Netherlands), as well as in Aruba and Curaçao. May be registered in Sint Maarten in such cases, but the rights of marriage are not guaranteed.
  2. ^ Neither performed nor recognized in Niue, Tokelau, or the Cook Islands.
  3. ^ Neither performed nor recognized in six British Overseas Territories.
  4. ^ a b Neither performed nor recognized in some tribal nations. Recognized but not performed in several other tribal nations and American Samoa.
  5. ^ Registered foreign marriages confer all marriage rights. Domestic common-law marriages confer most rights of marriage. Domestic civil marriage recognized by some cities.
  6. ^ a b c d e The Coman v. Romania ruling of the European Court of Justice obliges the state to provide residency rights for the foreign spouses of EU citizens. Some member states, including Romania, do not follow the ruling.
  7. ^ A "declaration of family relationship" is available in several of Cambodia's communes which may be useful in matters such as housing, but is not legally binding.
  8. ^ Guardianship agreements, conferring some limited legal benefits, including decisions about medical and personal care.
  9. ^ Inheritance, guardianship rights, and residency rights for foreign spouses of legal residents.
  10. ^ Courts have recognised guru–shishya, nata pratha or maitri karar–type contractual relationships, but they are not legally binding.
  11. ^ Some cities and prefectures issue partnership certificates, but they are not legally binding.
  12. ^ Marriages conducted abroad between a Namibian national and a foreign spouse recognized for residency rights.
  13. ^ Hospital visitation rights through a "legal representative" status.
  1. ^ a b Not yet in effect.
LGBTQ portal

Same-sex marriage will be legal in Thailand from 23 January 2025.[1] Same-sex marriage legislation supported by the government of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin and major opposition parties was introduced to the National Assembly in November 2023. It was passed by the House of Representatives by 400 votes to 10 on 27 March 2024, and by the Senate in a vote of 130 to 4 on 18 June 2024.[2] It received royal assent from King Vajiralongkorn and was published in the Royal Gazette on 24 September 2024, and will take effect on 23 January 2025, 120 days after promulgation.[3]

Thailand previously did not recognise any form of same-sex unions.[4][5] The law replaced the terms "men and women" and "husband and wife" in the Civil and Commercial Code with the words "individuals" and "spouses", and also allows same-sex couples to jointly adopt children.[6] Previously, several bills for civil partnerships and same-sex marriage had been introduced to Parliament but failed to pass. Thailand will become the first Southeast Asian country and the second Asian country after Taiwan to legalise same-sex marriage.[7][8][9][10][11]

Civil partnerships

In December 2012, the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra formed a committee to draft legislation providing legal recognition to same-sex couples in the form of civil partnerships.[12] On 8 February 2013, the Rights and Liberties Protection Department and the Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice, and Human Rights held a first public hearing on the civil partnership bill, drafted by the committee's chairman, Viroon Phuensaen.[13] By 2014, the bill had bipartisan support, but was stalled due to political unrest in the country.[14] In the second half of 2014, media reported that a draft bill called the Civil Partnership Act (Thai: พระราชบัญญัติคู่ชีวิต, Phra Ratcha Banyat Khuchiwit) would be submitted to the junta-appointed Thai Parliament. It would have granted same-sex couples some of the rights of opposite-sex marriage, but was criticized for increasing the minimum age from 17 to 20 and omitting adoption rights.[15]

In 2017, government officials responded favourably to a petition signed by 60,000 people calling for the legalisation of same-sex civil partnerships. Pitikan Sithidej, the director-general of the Rights and Liberties Protection Department, confirmed that she had received the petition and "would do all she could" to get it passed as soon as possible.[16] The Ministry of Justice convened on 4 May 2018 to begin discussions on a draft civil partnership bill, titled the Same Sex Life Partnership Registration Bill. Under the proposal, same-sex couples would have been able to register as "life partners" and would have been granted some of the rights of marriage.[17][18][19] The bill was discussed in public hearings between 12 and 16 November, where a reported 98% of respondents expressed support for the measure.[20][21] The government approved the bill on 25 December 2018.[22][23][24] On 8 July 2020, the new government, formed following the 2019 election, approved a new draft of the bill and introduced to the National Assembly.[25][26] However, it did not pass before the end of the year.

On 14 February 2023, Bangkok's Dusit district became the first jurisdiction in Thailand to issue partnership certificates, which are not legally binding, to same-sex couples.[27]

Same-sex marriage

Laws regarding homosexuality in Asia
Same-sex sexual activity legal
  Marriage performed
  Marriage recognized
  Other type of partnership
  Legal guardianships or unregistered cohabitation
  Limited foreign recognition (residency rights)
  No recognition of same-sex couples
  Restrictions on freedom of expression, not enforced
  Severe restrictions of association with arrests or detention
Same-sex sexual activity illegal
  Prison, not enforced
  Prison
  Death penalty on books, not enforced
  Enforced death penalty

Background

In September 2011, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Sexual Diversity Network proposed draft legislation on same-sex marriage and called on the Thai Government to support its legalisation.[28][29] In September 2013, the Bangkok Post reported that an attempt in 2011 by Natee Teerarojjanapong, the president of the Gay Political Group of Thailand, to register a marriage with his male partner had been rejected.[30]

In 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled that section 1448 of the Civil and Commercial Code defining marriages as only being between "women and men" was constitutional. The court stated that same-sex couples "cannot reproduce, as it is against nature, and that people of those communities are no different to other animals with strange behaviours or physical features". The verdict cited LGBT people as a different "species" that needed to be separated and studied as they are incapable of creating the "delicate bond" of human relationships.[31] The text was criticised by LGBT activists as "sexist and demeaning".[32] The court ruling stated:

Marriage is when a man and a woman are willing to live together, to build a husband and wife relationship to reproduce their offspring, under the morals, traditions, religion and the laws of each society. Marriage is, therefore, reserved for only a man and a woman.

Marriage Equality Act

In June 2020, Deputy Tunyawat Kamolwongwat from the Move Forward Party introduced a bill to the National Assembly to legalise same-sex marriage.[33] A public consultation on the bill was launched on 2 July 2020.[34][35] In June 2022, a couple of same-sex union bills passed their first readings in Parliament. These included the Marriage Equality Bill proposed by the opposition Move Forward Party, which would have amended the Civil and Commercial Code to include couples of any gender, and a government-proposed civil partnership bill, which would have instead introduced civil partnerships as a separate category, granting some but not all of the rights given to married couples.[36][37][38] Despite several amendments, neither bill passed Parliament before it was dissolved ahead of the 2023 election.

In November 2023, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin of the Pheu Thai Party announced that his government had approved a draft same-sex marriage law,[39] which Parliament began to debate on 21 December 2023.[40] Besides the government's version of the draft bill, three additional versions proposed by the Move Forward Party and the Democrat Party were considered.[41][42] All four bills passed overwhelmingly by 369 votes to 10 on 21 December 2023,[43] with the House of Representatives approving the formation of an ad-hoc committee to combine the four draft bills into one over 15 days before further debates in 2024.[6]

On 27 March 2024, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a unified draft law by 400 votes to 10 on its third reading, with two abstentions and three not voting.[44][45] The bill passed its first reading in the Senate on 2 April by a 147 to 4 vote.[46][47] On 29 May 2024, the chair of the ad-hoc committee announced that the Senate was expected to hold a parliamentary session on 18 June to vote on the bill.[48][49] On 18 June 2024, the bill was approved by the Senate without amendments, therefore requiring no further action from the House of Representatives.[50] It received royal assent from King Vajiralongkorn and was published in the Royal Gazette on 24 September 2024, and will come into effect on 23 January 2025.[51] Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra welcomed the promulgation on social media.[52] The enactment of the Marriage Equality Act (Thai: กฎหมายสมรสเท่าเทียม, Kotmai Somrot Thao Thiam) will make Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia and the second in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage after Taiwan.

Bangkok Pride leader Ann Chumaporn has stated it will work with the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration to organise a mass wedding ceremony on 23 January 2025,[53] with the goal of having 1,448 same-sex couples participate, symbolising the number of sections in the Marriage Equality Act. Activists have also urged communities in other provinces to organize similar mass wedding ceremonies.[54]

Public opinion

A sign reading "สมรสเท่าเทียม" (Thai for "equal marriage"; a recurring slogan calling for same-sex marriage legalisation in Thailand) at Bangkok Pride, 2022

Thai opinion polls have consistently favoured legal recognition of same-sex marriages.[55][56][57] According to a 2019 YouGov poll of 1,025 respondents, 63% of Thai people supported the legalisation of same-sex partnerships, with 11% against and 27% preferring not to answer. 69% of people aged 18 to 34 supported civil partnerships, with 10% opposed. Legalisation was supported by 56% of those aged between 35 and 54 (33% opposed), and 55% of those aged 55 and over (13% opposed). 66% of those with university degrees were in favour (10% opposed), and 57% of those without university degrees (12% opposed). 68% of those with a high income supported civil partnerships (7% opposed), and 55% of those with a low income (13% opposed). 68% of women responded in favour (7% opposed), and 57% of men (14% opposed).[58]

According to a 2022 poll by the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), 80% of Thais supported same-sex marriage.[59] A June–September 2022 Pew Research Center poll showed that 60% of Thai people supported same-sex marriage (24% "strongly" and 36% "somewhat"), while 32% opposed (18% "strongly" and 14% "somewhat"). Support was highest among Buddhists at 68%, but lowest among Muslims at 14%. This level of support was the second highest among the six Southeast Asian countries polled, behind Vietnam at 65%, but ahead of Cambodia at 57%, Singapore at 45%, Malaysia at 17%, and Indonesia at 5%.[60] A government survey conducted between 31 October and 14 November 2023 showed that 96.6% of the Thai public supported the same-sex marriage bill.[61][62] Opposition to same-sex marriage was mainly concentrated among Thailand's small Muslim minority.[63]

See also

References

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