Source link : https://news7.asia/news/thailand-celebrates-first-same-sex-marriages-in-its-history/
“I can’t find the words to express my happiness today,” Narisara, 35, industrial designer, bursts out laughing on the phone as she goes to join her partner Anong, 38, photographer, in the center of Bangkok. “We are going to be among the first women to get married today in one of the multiple administrative centers that the town hall has specially opened for this occasion,” she explains, a little euphorically. Because the first law legalizing gay marriage in the “Country of a smile” came into force this Thursday, January 23, 2025. A historic day for the LGBT+ community in Thailand who have been fighting for more than ten years to obtain this right to marriage. For Prachaï, 45 years old, accountant In an import-export company, “it’s a real liberation for me and my partner Sombun”. As a couple for fifteen years, Prachaï and Sombun, 40, had the feeling of not having a real social identity accepted by society. “We lived in an almost exclusively gay environment,” admits Prachaï, “with the feeling of being a little excluded from real life.” Adding that even in the eyes of his family, his homosexuality took years to be “more or less accepted”. A conservative society Even if Thailand has a reputation for being open and inclusive, where Gay Pride was organized every year, the Thai society remains attached to very conservative, almost feudal values, subject to a revered and untouchable royalty. Many homosexuals are still victims of discrimination in their daily lives. “Especially for everything related to administrative and legal problems,” explains Prachaï, “because our couple had no legal recognition.” The couple today will join hundreds of others to officially marry. Activists from several NGOs have fought for more than a decade to have same-sex marriage recognized, but attempts at legalization have so far failed. successful due to the chronic political instability that reigns in Thailand, between coups d’état and large movements of popular protest. Thailand joins Nepal and Taiwan The new law, adopted by Parliament in June 2024 and promulgated by King Maha Vajiralongkorn last September, no longer includes gender references, and gives homosexual couples the same rights in terms of inheritance, property or adoption as heterosexual couples. If Prachaï and Sombun feel “too old” to adopt a child, Narisara and Anong are preparing for it. “Since last year we have already started to launch the procedures because we knew that the law would come into force in January 2025” explains Narisara. “We will finally be able to legally found a real family,” she rejoices, “it was essential for us.” Thus Thailand joins Nepal and Taiwan in Asia who legalized same-sex marriage in 2023 and 2019 respectively. However, Homosexuality is illegal in half of Asian countries, and can result in a prison sentence of several years, as in Burma or Malaysia, bordering Thailand, a 2020 report noted. the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA).
Author : News7
Publish date : 2025-01-23 06:46:34
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