Why Thailand has become a paradise for LGBT couples

“It’s been a long struggle for us, full of tears.”

That’s how Anne “Waddao” Chumaporn describes the years leading up to this moment – on Thursday, when same-sex marriage will become legal in Thailand, and more than a hundred couples will tie the knot in one of Bangkok’s biggest shopping malls in a riot of color and celebration.

And the same question that sounded everywhere long campaign for equal marriage law passed will be asked again: why Thailand? Why nowhere else but Taiwan and Nepal in Asia?

People think they know the answer. Thailand is known to be open and accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender women. They have long been visible in all walks of life. Thais are calm in almost everything. “Mai pen rai” is a national catchphrase. Buddhist beliefs, followed by more than 90% of Thais, do not prohibit the LGBT lifestyle. Of course, then equal marriage was inevitable.

Only it wasn’t. “It wasn’t easy,” says Ms Waaddao, who organizes the Bangkok Pride March.

The first pride march in Thailand took place only 25 years ago. Back then, it was difficult to get consent from the police, and the march was a chaotic, unfocused event. After 2006, only two marches took place until 2022. In 2009, one planned Pride march in Chiang Mai was canceled due to threats of violence.

“Neither our own families nor society accepted us,” adds Ms. Vaaddao. “There were times when we didn’t think marriage equality would ever happen, but we never gave up.”

Despite Thailand’s general tolerance for LGBT people, gaining equal rights, including marriage, required a determined campaign to change attitudes in Thai officials and society. And the relationship has changed.

When Chakrit “Charnila” Vadhanweera started dating his partner in 2001, they were both actors playing lead roles in serials. At that time, homosexuality was still officially described by the Thai Ministry of Health as a mental illness.

“At that time, society could not accept the fact that the main male roles were played by gay men. There were a lot of rumors about us in the media, most of which were untrue, which really stressed us out,” recalls Mr. Chakrit.

“That’s when we decided that if we were going to date each other, we had to leave show business.”

They are still together but have stayed out of the limelight for over 20 years running a successful production company.

A lot has changed in that time – and their industry has gotten some credit for it.

How LGBT characters are portrayed in Thai TV dramas, from comic oddities to leading roles, has made a big difference, according to Tinaphap Sinsambontong, an assistant professor at Thammasat University who identifies as queer.

“Today, they present us with ordinary characters, the kind you see in real life,” he says. “An LGBTQ+ colleague you may have in the office, or your LGBTQ+ neighbor. It really helped change perceptions and values ​​across generations.”

The so-called “Boys’ Love” dramas helped the rest of society round out the idea of ​​not just tolerance, but full acceptance and equal rights for society.

These romantic TV dramas about love between beautiful young people have grown tremendously in popularity over the past decade, especially during the Covid pandemic.

They are now one of Thailand’s most successful cultural exports, with large audiences in places like China. Series like My School President and Love Sick have racked up hundreds of millions of views on streaming networks.

At the same time, activists have become more focused and united in their efforts to change the law. A number of different LGBT groups came together to campaign for Change 1448 – 1448 is the section of the Thai Civil Code that covers the definition of marriage – and later under the Rainbow Coalition for Marriage Equality.

They contacted other groups fighting for greater rights and freedoms in Thailand and learned how to work with political parties in parliament to persuade them to change their position on the law.

The resumption of Pride in 2022 and the government’s push to recognize and promote Thailand’s appeal as an attractive destination for LGBT travelers also helped change public perception.

“We didn’t fight, we negotiated,” says Mr Tinaphop. “We knew we needed to talk to Thai society and gradually changed the relationship.”

The passage of the Equal Marriage Act through Parliament was also aided by political developments in Thailand.

For five years after a 2014 coup, the country was ruled by a conservative military government that was only willing to consider recognizing civil partnerships for LGBT couples without full rights such as inheritance.

But in the 2019 elections that returned Thailand to civilian rule, a new, young reformist party called Future Forward, which fully supported equal marriage, did surprisingly well. They took the third largest share of seats, showing Thailand’s growing hunger for change.

If in a year Future Forward was fired In a controversial court verdict, it sparked months of student protests calling for sweeping reforms, including limiting the monarchy’s power.

Activists from LGBT campaigns have featured prominently in these protests, giving them greater national prominence. The protests eventually died down, with many leaders arrested for questioning the role of the monarchy.

But in the 2023 elections, the self-proclaimed successor Future Forward Move Forward with better performance than 2019, gets more seats than any other party. Again, it was clear that the desire for change was felt among Thais of all ages.

“Forward Movement” was prevented from forming a government by conservatives who objected to his call for mass political reforms.

But until now, equal marriage has been less controversial. Few opposed. And its passage gave the unwieldy and unpopular coalition government, which had been formed without any forward movement, a quick achievement to please much of the country.

Thailand, however, is an outlier in Asia. Few other countries in the region are likely to follow suit.

The influence of Islam in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei makes the concept of equal marriage untenable. LGBT communities there face discrimination and prosecution; in Brunei, sex between men is punishable by death.

The Philippines is increasingly accepting of LGBT couples living together openly. But the Roman Catholic Church categorically opposes same-sex marriage.

In Vietnam, as in Thailand, there are no religious or ideological barriers, but agitating for a change in the law, as happened in Thailand, is difficult under a repressive regime. About the same in China. Until the ruling Communist Party supports equal marriage, which it has shown no sign of, it cannot happen.

Even in democracies like Japan and South Korea, where political parties are largely conservative and dominated by older men, the outlook looks bleak.

“It’s largely blocked by conservative Christians,” says Chae Yoon Han, executive director of the Beyond the Rainbow Foundation in South Korea.

“Most, if not all, of the politicians in President Yun’s conservative party are devout Christians, and they have framed marriage equality as a ‘leftist agenda’ that could potentially open society to a ‘leftist, communist takeover.’

India seemed close to legalizing same-sex marriage in 2023 when its Supreme Court ruled, but the judges refusedsaying it was a matter for Parliament.

Thus, Thailand hopes to benefit from being a pioneer. Tourism is one of the few sectors of Thailand’s economy to thrive in the post-pandemic recovery, and the country is considered a safe and welcoming destination for LGBT holidaymakers.

An increasing number of same-sex couples from other Asian countries are now choosing to live here.

The legal recognition they can get for their marriages will allow them to raise children and grow old together with almost all the rights and protections afforded to heterosexual couples.