The King of Thailand has approved the laws allowing for marriage equality and same-sex couple will be able to begin tying the knot from 22nd January 2025.
The law passed Thailand’s lower house of parliament in April and progressed through the senate in June. As well as the laws saying you can marry someone of any gender, couples will also get full medical, financial and adoption rights.
With King Maha Vajiralongkorn giving the bill royal assent Thailand becomes the first country in South-East Asia to achieve marriage equality.
Thailand opted to give their marriage legislation gender-neutral terms instead of phrases including “husbands”, “wives”, “man” and “woman”.
Waaddao Chumaporn, a longtime LGBTQ+ activist and co-founder of the Bangkok Pride movement shared her thoughts with the BBC.
“It’s a triumph of equality and human dignity.” she said, noting she planned to organise a mass wedding of 1000 couples.
Since marriage equality was first achieved when The Netherlands legalised same-sex unions in 2001, over 30 countries have changed their laws. So far in 2024 Estonia, Greece, Aruba and Curacao have brought in same-sex marriage. Liechtenstein will achieve marriage equality in January 2025.
