At the height of 2024 Pride season, decades of civil society campaigning have come to fruition in Thailand, where parliament has legalised same-sex marriage. With 130 votes for and only four against, on 18 June the Senate passed the Marriage Equality Bill, following the overwhelming backing given by the House of Representatives in March.

With a few strokes of the pen, the bill tweaks the language of the Civil and Commercial Code, replacing gendered references such as ‘man’, ‘woman’, ‘husband’ and ‘wife’ with gender-neutral ones such as ‘individuals’, ‘persons’ and ‘spouses’. It now goes for formal assent to King Maha Vajiralongkorn and will take effect 120 days after publication in the official bulletin.

This means equal marriage is now recognised in 37 countries around the world. Recent progress has seen Estonia become the first post-Soviet state to join the ranks in 2023, and Greece the first majority-Orthodox Christian country to do so in early 2024. Thailand is the first country in Southeast Asia and the third in Asia, following Taiwan and Nepal, to recognise the right to marry and all associated rights for same-sex couples.

The long road to equality

With its vibrant LGBTQI+ culture, Thailand has long been advertised as ‘an exceptional destination for gay travellers’. But things weren’t quite so good for local LGBTQI+ people. Same-sex relationships weren’t legally recognised, so people couldn’t access the rights that come with recognition.

Civil society worked to change that. Efforts to advance the rights of same-sex couples in Thailand date back at least as far as 2011.

The first shift came in 2012, when the government began to consider some kind of recognition that still fell short of equal rights. In 2013, it drafted a civil partnership bill that won bipartisan support. But progress stalled under the military government formed as a result of a coup in 2014.

The country remained under military rule until mid-2019, but rather than stopping, LGBTQI+ activism gained strength by connecting with the country’s youthful and outspoken democracy movement. In 2017, a petition calling for the recognition of civil partnerships gathered over 60,000 signatures. The government responded by preparing a draft bill and holding public hearings where it received overwhelming public support. But by mid-2020, the bill – which activists criticised for not ensuring the same rights as marriage – died in parliament.

When youth-led protests for democratic change erupted in 2020, people’s demands included LGBTQI+ rights, and specifically marriage equality, leading to the development of a new bill that was eventually introduced in parliament. It made it to its second reading in November 2022, but failed to pass before parliament was dissolved ahead of a general election in May 2023.

LGBTQI+ activists also took to the courts, but received a setback. In 2021, in response to a petition filed by two LGBTQI+ people seeking to get married, the Constitutional Court ruled that the section of the Civil and Commercial Code that defined marriage as being between a man and a woman was constitutional. LGBTQI+ activists were particularly unhappy with the sexist and demeaning language used by the court.

Cultural and political battles

Thanks to longstanding efforts to normalise the presence of LGBTQI+ people in society and shift conservative narratives, Thailand is something of an outlier when it comes to public attitudes towards LGBTQI+ rights. Thailand ranks 44 out of 196 countries in Equaldex’s Equality Index, which rates countries according to their LGBTQI+-friendliness. Unlike many others, it places higher for public attitudes than for its laws. Surveys show consistently high levels of acceptance of LGBTQI+ people and support for LGBTQI+ rights in general and marriage rights in particular.

This meant that unlike in other countries, where changes in public attitudes often lag behind legal changes, Thai LGBTQI+ activists were able to use the broadly favourable climate of opinion to pressure politicians. They turned LGBTQI+ rights into a bandwagon politicians wanted to join for political gain. As a result, some of the major parties competing in the 2023 election campaigned on pledges to push for marriage equality. This included the progressive Move Forward party, which won the most seats.

But military-appointed senators stopped Move Forward forming a government, and instead Pheu Thai Party, a populist party twice deposed in military coups, formed a coalition with military-aligned parties. This wasn’t the outcome the many young democracy activists who’d backed Move Forward wanted. But it showed how normalised the demand for marriage equality had become that the new prime minister, Srettha Thavisin, had also promised to send a bill to parliament. However, he took his time.

LGBTQI+ activists gave him the push he needed. By early September 2023, when the new government was sworn in, the Rainbow Coalition for Marriage Equality had collected over 362,000 signatures in support of marriage equality. Srettha sent the bill to parliament in November, and in December debate started on the government’s bill plus three other versions submitted by other parties and civil society.

The House of Representatives passed all four bills with an overwhelming majority, then formed a committee to merge them into one, and passed this combined Marriage Equality Bill with near unanimity in March. The Senate passed it on first reading on 2 April and on second reading on 18 June.

In the meantime, Srettha took part in the 2024 Bangkok Pride Parade, incessantly promoted Thailand as a gay-friendly destination and backed Bangkok’s bid to host World Pride in 2030. When the bill’s final approval was imminent, the government planned a celebration at Government House. It decorated the ground with rainbow carpets, flags and a giant balloon in the shape of two hands making a heart sign. The party was attended by politicians, celebrities, diplomats and LGBTQI+ activists who rode in a parade from parliament after the vote. Crowds celebrated, waving rainbow flags and throwing rainbow-coloured bouquets in the air.

What – and where – next

The Marriage Equality Bill recognises rights in relation to inheritance, adoption and healthcare decisions. But beyond these direct effects, activists expect it to have powerful indirect impacts, sending a message of acceptance and encouraging younger LGBTQI+ people to come out and lead full lives free of discrimination and violence.

Now marriage equality has been achieved, LGBTQI+ activism is turning to the next big issue – trans rights. Despite playing a prominent role in entertainment, transgender people in Thailand face steep barriers, particularly in employment. They have few legal protections against discrimination, and those that exist aren’t fully enforced. They’re unable to obtain legal documents that reflect their gender identity, and what few rights they have in this regard depend on bureaucratic discretion. To change this, LGBTQI+ activists will keep campaigning for a Gender Recognition Bill.

The significance of the change achieved in Thailand, and the further change that seems sure to follow, extends far beyond the country’s borders. Most countries in the region don’t recognise same-sex marriage, and some, including Brunei, Malaysia and Myanmar, still severely criminalise same-sex relations.

Thai activists believe their success can both bring further change at home and set an example for other countries to follow. Given what they’ve achieved, they have every reason to hope.

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