Thailand passes landmark bill legalizing same-sex marriage

“We celebrate the successful passing of the marriage equality bill and we celebrate the beginning of equal love,” Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin wrote on X on Tuesday. “‘Diversity’ is not ‘difference.’ May every love be beautiful and powerful.”

The move is a milestone for the region, said Neela Ghoshal, senior director of law, policy and research at Outright International, a global LGBTIQ advocacy group. Same-sex relations are illegal in Malaysia, and while not criminalized in Indonesia, the LGBTQ+ community faces increased threats.

“It’s great to see a country in the region going in the opposite direction,” Ghoshal said. “It bucks the stereotype that equality is a Western agenda or imposition.”

It also signals progress within Thailand, she added, which would be among a few in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.

“In general on LGBTQIA issues, Thailand has been friendly and accepting. But it has been slow to make legal progress,” Ghoshal said, pointing out that Thailand, while known for offering gender-affirming care, provides few legal protections to transgender people.

Three dozen countries legalized same-sex marriage before Thailand, according to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ+ civil rights organization. Taiwan led the way in Asia in 2019. In Nepal, some same-sex marriages have begun to gain recognition under an interim order from the country’s top court. A final judgment is still in the works.

A 2023 Pew Research Center survey found that 60 percent of adults in Thailand supported legalizing same-sex marriage. Thavisin, the prime minister, has emphasized that the Thai government is committed to marriage equality and touted Bangkok’s Pride parade this month.

“We will also continue our fight for social rights for all people regardless of their status,” he wrote on X.

The legislation that passed Tuesday also swaps out terms such as “husband” and “wife” in Thai marriage law for gender-neutral language, such as “spouse.” One member of the Senate fought against that change. Retired army Gen. Worapong Sa-nganet said cutting those terms would be “a destruction of the family establishment in the most violent way.”

He added that “if there’s no term ‘husband’ or ‘wife’ in the law, it would disappear from the Thai language. That would affect the family establishment, how we define gender and the structure of society.”

But activist Plaifah Kyoka Shodladd, 18, who was a member of the special committee set up to consider the bill, said on the Senate floor that Tuesday marked a historic step for Thai society and for future generations.

“We can now proudly say Thailand has equal marriage,” Shodladd said after the vote. “The definition of a family will change forever.”