Why Thailand became a paradise for LGBT couples

“It’s been a long, tearful fight for us.”

This is how Ann “Waaddao” Chumaporn describes the years leading up to this moment: Thursday, when same-sex marriage will be legal in Thailand, and more than a hundred couples will get married in one of Bangkok’s largest shopping malls, in a riot of color and celebration.

And the same question that has been heard all along Long campaign to achieve the equal marriage law You will ask again: why Thailand? Why nowhere else in Asia apart from Taiwan and Nepal?

People think they know the answer. Thailand is famous for its openness and acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. They have long been visible in all areas of life. Thais are calm in almost everything. “Mai pen rai” (no big deal) is a national slogan. Buddhist beliefs, followed by more than 90% of Thais, do not prohibit LGBT lifestyles. So, without a doubt, marriage equality was inevitable.

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

The first Pride march in Thailand took place just 25 years ago. Back then it was difficult to get police approval and the march was a chaotic, unfocused event. After 2006, only two marches were held until 2022. In 2009, a planned Pride march in Chiang Mai had to be abandoned due to the threat of violence.

“We were not accepted by our own families or by society,” adds Mrs Waaddao. “There were times when we didn’t think marriage equality would ever happen, but we never gave up.”

Despite Thailand’s general tolerance towards LGBT people, achieving equal rights, including marriage, required a determined campaign to change attitudes in Thai bureaucracy and society. And attitudes have changed.

When Chakkrit “Ink” Vadhanavira began dating his partner in 2001, they were both actors playing lead roles in television series. At that time, the Thai Ministry of Health still officially described homosexuality as a mental illness.

“At that time, society couldn’t accept a gay man playing male lead roles. There was a lot of gossip about us in the media, a lot of it false, which made us very stressed,” recalls Chakkrit.

“So we decided that if we were going to get out, we had to leave show business.”

They are still together but have stayed out of the spotlight for more than 20 years, running a successful production company.

A lot has changed in that time, and their industry gets some credit for it.

The way LGBT characters are portrayed in Thai TV series, from comic oddities to mainstream roles, made a big difference, according to Tinnaphop Sinsomboonthong, an assistant professor at Thammasat University who self-identifies as queer.

“Today they represent us as normal characters, like those seen in real life,” he says. “The kind of LGBTQ+ colleague you might have in the office, or your LGBTQ+ neighbor. This really helped change perceptions and values ​​across generations.”

The so-called Boy Love dramas have helped bring the rest of society closer to the idea of ​​not only tolerance, but also full acceptance and equal rights for the community.

These romantic television dramas featuring love affairs between beautiful young people have gained enormous popularity over the last decade, especially during the Covid pandemic.

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

At the same time, activists became more focused and united in their attempt to change the law. The different LGBT groups came together under the Change 1448 campaign (1448 is the clause in the Thai Civil Code that covers the definition of marriage) and later under the Rainbow Coalition for Marriage Equality.

They linked up with 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 stance on the law.

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

“We don’t fight, we negotiate,” says Tinnaphop. “We knew we had to talk to Thai society and, little by little, we changed our attitude.”

The passage of the same-sex marriage law in parliament was also helped by political developments in Thailand.

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

But in the 2019 elections, which returned Thailand to civilian rule, a new, young reform party called Future Forward, which fully supported marriage equality, did unexpectedly well. They won the third highest percentage of seats, revealing a growing hunger for change in Thailand.

When a year later Future Forward disbanded over a controversial court verdict, sparked months of student-led protests calling for sweeping reforms, including restrictions on the monarchy’s power.

LGBT activists stood out in those protests, giving them greater national prominence. The protests eventually subsided and many of the leaders were arrested for questioning the role of the monarchy.

But in the 2023 elections the successor to Future Forward, which calls itself Move Forward, performed even better than in 2019, winning more seats than any other party. Once again, it was clear that the desire for change was felt among Thais of all ages.

The Conservatives prevented Move Forward from forming a government and opposed its call for comprehensive political reforms.

But at the time, marriage equality was less controversial. Few opposed. And its passage gave the unpopular and unwieldy coalition government that had been formed without Move Forward a quick win with which to please most of the country.

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

The influence of Islam in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei makes the notion of marriage equality a failure. LGBT communities there face discrimination and prosecution; In Brunei, sexual relations between men are punishable by death.

In the Philippines, there is growing acceptance for LGBT couples to live together openly. But the Roman Catholic Church is vehemently opposed to same-sex marriage.

In Vietnam, as in Thailand, there are no religious or ideological obstacles, but campaigning to change the law, as happened in Thailand, is difficult under a repressive regime. The same thing happens in China. Until the ruling communist party supports marriage equality, which it shows no signs of doing, it cannot happen.

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

“It’s largely conservative Christians who are blocking it,” says Chae-yoon Han, executive director of the Beyond the Rainbow Foundation in South Korea.

“Most, if not all, politicians in President Yoon’s conservative party are devout Christians, and have framed marriage equality as a ‘leftist agenda,’ which could potentially open society to a ‘leftist communist takeover.'”

India appeared close to legalizing same-sex marriage in 2023 when the decision fell to its Supreme Court, but the judges declinedsaying it was up to parliament.

That’s why Thailand hopes to benefit from being a pioneer. Tourism is one of the few areas of the Thai economy that is doing well in the post-pandemic recovery, and the country is seen as a safe and welcoming destination for LGBT tourists.

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

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