A new law granting same-sex couples in Thailand the right to marry went into effect earlier today, with thousands registering their marriages across the country.
In Bangkok, hundreds of couples turned out for a mass registration event at a luxury shopping mall in the capital city, decorated with an enormous Pride carpet to mark the occasion.
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Hundreds of couples to tie the knot as marriage equality comes to Thailand
Thailand is the third Asian country to legalize marriage equality.
The mass wedding, organized by Thai rights group Naruemit Pride, saw couples 10 at a time presenting their documents to officials who legally registered them as married.
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“When the district officer was signing, I felt my tears brimming inside. We have fought for two years, but others have fought for 20 years, and today is a success,” Klinthaworn, a live-streamer and salesperson who goes by the name Maple, told NBC News.
“Equal marriage has truly become possible with the power of all,” said former Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, who was on hand for the mass wedding and was premier when the landmark legislation passed last year.
1,832 couples across the country registered marriages under the new law Thursday, according to the Thai Interior Ministry.
“23 January is the day that we all mark in history, that the rainbow flag has been planted in Thailand gracefully,” current Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra posted to Instagram last week. “All the love from all the people is accepted legally with respect and dignity.”
Shinawatra invited dozens of LGBTQ+ couples and activists to government offices last week ahead of the law’s enactment. “Today shows that our country is open and accepting,” she said.
Thailand’s law enshrining marriage equality was passed last year by Parliament and given “royal assent” by the country’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn in September.
In the beach town in Koh Samui in the Gulf of Thailand, local officials hosted a registration event for couples, including some who had already tied the knot in beachside ceremonies but turned out to make it official.
“We wanted to get married awhile already, and once they approved the law, we just went ahead with it,” said Ploy Rahong, 31, who married her partner of three years in October in a sunset wedding on the beach.
“It’s like a new beginning,” she said.
“I feel more secure in our life because we can be a family and be recognized as a couple in society,” said Anticha Sangchai, who registered at the big event in Bangkok with her wife two years after their original wedding ceremony.
“This is special for us because this is a day of history in Thailand,” she told NPR.
The marriage law’s enactment was years in the making, as Thailand endured political strife including a military coup in 2014.
“It made it extremely difficult for parliament to move on with this bill, or to actually even have discussions related to gender justice,” said Plaifah Kyoka Shodladd, a member of Parliament’s marriage equality select committee.
The LGBTQ+ activist credited a wave of youth pro-democracy protests in 2020 for reigniting the campaign for marriage equality.
“That influenced political parties to campaign for LGBTQ+ related laws and policies, because it became a landmark policy to gain the popular vote from the younger generation,” Shodladd said.
Thailand on Thursday became the third country in Asia after Taiwan and Nepal to legalize same-sex marriage.
Singaporean Tom Tan said he hoped Thailand would be an example for other Asian nations. Same-sex marriage remains illegal in Singapore, although the government repealed a law criminalizing sex between men in 2022.
“I do feel things are moving, but obviously not as fast as in Thailand,” he said.
He and his partner, a Thai native, are “super stoked and excited” to wed in Thailand later this year, Tan said.
Scores of same-sex and transgender couples married in #Thailand on Thursday as the kingdom's equal marriage law went into effect.
The milestone sees Thailand become the biggest nation in #Asia to recognise equal marriage, after Taiwan and Nepal.
by @Charlotte_JHS pic.twitter.com/Rdm2GpkgOH
— FRANCE 24 English (@France24_en) January 23, 2025
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