Scores of same-sex and transgender couples married in Thailand yesterday as the kingdom’s equal marriage law went into effect, with two high-profile gay actors among the first to do so.
In matching beige suits, Apiwat “Porsch” Apiwatsayree, 49 — who was in tears — and Sappanyoo “Arm” Panatkool, 38, were handed their pink-bordered marriage certificates at a registry office in Bangkok.
“We fought for it for decades and today is a remarkable day that love is love,” Arm said.
Photo: AFP
The milestone sees Thailand become by far the biggest nation in Asia to recognize equal marriage, after Taiwan and Nepal.
“Today, the rainbow flag is proudly flying over Thailand,” Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra wrote on social media.
The new marriage law uses gender-neutral terms in place of “men,” “women,” “husbands” and “wives,” also clearing the way for transgender people to wed, and grants adoption and inheritance rights to all married couples.
Lesbian couple Sumalee Sudsaynet, 64, and Thanaphon Chokhongsung, 59, were the first to wed at Bangrak district office, and the couple showed the media their engagement rings.
“We are so happy. We’ve been waiting for this day for 10 years,” said Thanaphon, wearing a white gown.
The couple met a decade ago through a mutual friend and bonded over their passion for Buddhism and merit-making.
“The legalization of same-sex marriage uplifts our dignity,” Sumalee said. “It allows us to enjoy the same rights as heterosexual couples. My emotions today are so overwhelming, I can’t even put them into words.”
Dozens of couples dressed in traditional and contemporary wedding outfits trickled into a large hall in a shopping center for a mass LGBTQ wedding organized by campaign group Bangkok Pride with city authorities.
Officials helped the couples fill out marriage forms at rows of tables, an administrative step before they could collect their certificates.
Kevin Pehthai Thanomkhet, a 31-year-old transgender man, married his wife, Maple Nathnicha Klintgaworn, 39.
“So happy, like, oh my god ... my heart is beating,” Kevin said.
His 65-year-old father Phornchai added: “I have always accepted [him]. Whatsoever, it is OK with me.”
Thailand ranks highly on indices of LGBTQ legal and living conditions, and yesterday’s milestone makes it the first nation in Southeast Asia to allow equal marriage.
The kingdom’s same-sex marriage bill was passed in a historic parliamentary vote in June last year, the third place in Asia to do so, and the law came into effect 120 days after it was ratified by Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn.
Thai activists have been pushing for same-sex marriage rights for more than a decade, with their advocacy stalled by political turbulence in a nation regularly upended by military coups and mass street protests.
Former Thai prime minister Srettha Thavisin, who attended Wednesday’s mass wedding event, took an apparent swipe at newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump, who on Monday decreed there were only two genders.
“Recently a country’s leader said that there were only two genders, but I think we are more open-minded than that,” he said.
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