Lawmakers in Thailand voted on Tuesday to approve a wedding equality invoice, a transfer that places the nation on a transparent path to changing into the primary in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.
Thailand’s Senate handed the invoice by 130 votes to 4, with some abstentions, on Tuesday afternoon. It was permitted by the Home of Representatives in March. The laws would grow to be legislation after it’s reviewed by a Senate committee and the Constitutional Courtroom and receives royal assent from the king, a formality that’s extensively anticipated to be granted.
“After 20 years of attempting to legalize this matter,” activist Plaifa Kyoka Shodladd, 18, mentioned within the Senate chamber after the vote, “lastly, love wins.”
The invoice’s passage underscores Thailand’s standing as a relative haven for homosexual {couples} in Asia. Solely Taiwan and Nepal have legalized same-sex marriage.
Whereas India got here near doing so final yr, the Supreme Courtroom deferred the choice to Parliament. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken strongly in opposition to legalizing homosexual marriage.
In some Asian nations, homosexual intercourse is a prison offense. Indonesia, the place homosexual marriage is prohibited, made extramarital intercourse unlawful in 2022. In 2019, Brunei made homosexual intercourse punishable with loss of life by stoning. It later mentioned it will not perform executions after widespread worldwide protest.
Thailand’s invoice calls marriage a partnership between two individuals age 18 and above, with out specifying their gender. It additionally offers L.G.B.T.Q. {couples} equal rights to undertake youngsters, declare tax allowances, inherit property and provides consent for medical therapy when their companions are incapacitated.
The invoice has been contentious since its first model was launched over 20 years in the past. Whereas Thailand is among the most open locations on this planet for homosexual {couples}, it’s socially conservative in different methods. In February, lawmakers dismissed a proposal to let individuals change genders on official paperwork.
However a majority of the Thai public helps the wedding equality invoice. Final yr, 60 p.c of adults in Thailand mentioned they supported legalizing same-sex marriage in a survey by the Pew Analysis Middle.
