Thailand’s senate has passed the final reading of a historic marriage equality bill, paving the way for the country to become the first in south-east Asia to recognise same-sex marriage.
The bill gained the support of nearly all upper-house lawmakers and will be sent to the palace for endorsement by King Maha Vajiralongkorn. The law will come into force 120 days after it is published in the royal gazette.
“We’re all just really excited,” said Plaifah Kyoka Shodladd, an 18-year-old activist and a member of a parliamentary committee on same-sex marriage, before the law was approved. “I can feel the whole world is cheering us on.”
The bill passed its final reading on Tuesday with the approval of 130 of the 152 members of the senate in attendance, with four voting against it and 18 abstaining.
On social media, campaigners had received supportive messages from across the world, including in French, Spanish and Burmese, Plaifah added.
After the bill passed, crowds celebrated at Government House, waving rainbow flags and throwing rainbow-coloured bouquets into the air.
Thailand will become the third place in Asia where same-sex couples can get married, after Taiwan and Nepal, and the first in south-east Asia. In October, India’s top court declined to grant legal recognition to same-sex marriages, saying it should be decided by parliament.
The new legislation changes references to “men”, “women”, “husbands” and “wives” to gender-neutral terms such as “spouse” and “person”. Couples will have equal access to marriage, as well as the same rights in areas including child adoption, healthcare consent, and inheritance.
The rights offered under the legislation will also apply to trans people – though, legally, they will still be recognised according to their sex assigned at birth, say campaigners. Activists are campaigning for a gender recognition law in Thailand to change this.
“Although Thailand has been known as the gay paradise or the queer paradise, it was never really the actual paradise for queer people. But once we have this bill it will open so many doors,” Plaifah said.
Thailand, famous for the Bangkok nightlife and its popular “boys’ love” TV series, has a vibrant and visible LGBT community, and has fostered a reputation for being a welcoming country, but activists have long pointed out that they lack basic legal protections.
Naphat Krutthai, who spoke to the Guardian before the vote, said he felt joyful. “That feeling like [of being] accepted. It’s legalised – from the state. They see us as a citizen – with the same rights,” he said.
“For me at my age, 45, it is not only about love, it’s also to protect my family, not only [in terms of] money but other kinds of emergencies and health. I can sign and take care [of her],” Naphat, a trans man, said of his partner.
Supporters will later hold a rally, featuring a drag show, in central Bangkok, while the prime minister, Srettha Thavisin, will open his official residence to activists and supporters for celebrations after the vote. Many shopping malls and private businesses are displaying rainbow flags for Pride month, and Thailand is bidding to host World Pride in 2030, which it hopes will also boost the tourism sector.
“We have been waiting for this moment for so long,” said Tinnaphop Sinsomboonthong, a queer scholar and assistant professor at Thammasat University’s faculty of sociology and anthropology, adding the change was likely to inspire others across the region. “Let’s say it’s the symbol of the new change and the new transformation happening in south-east Asia,” he said.
Laws criminalising same-sex sexual acts, often inherited from British colonial rule, still exist elsewhere in the region, including in Thailand’s neighbours Myanmar and Malaysia. In Malaysia, each state and the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya also have sharia codes that generally criminalise gay sex and gender nonconformity.
In 2022, Singapore repealed a colonial-era law that criminalised sex between men but also changed the constitution to prevent court challenges that could have paved the way to legalising same-sex marriage.
In 2019, Brunei introduced death by stoning for extramarital sex and anal sex. It later extended a moratorium on the punishment after a global outcry.
Mookdapa Yangyuenpradorn, a spokesperson with the rights group Fortify Rights, called the news in Thailand a “triumph for justice and human rights”.
“The journey to this point has been long and fraught with challenges, but today’s vote to ensure marriage equality marks a historic moment that deserves celebration,” she said.
