Why Thailand has become a paradise for LGBT couples

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

That’s how Ann “Waaddao” Chumaporn describes the years leading up to this moment – ​​on Thursday, when same-sex marriage becomes 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 was heard everywhere long campaign to obtain 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 to and accepting of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people. They have long been visible in all spheres of life. Thais are easy on almost everything. “Mai pen rai” – no big deal – is a national catchphrase. Buddhist beliefs, followed by more than 90% of Thais, do not prohibit the LGBT lifestyle. Surely then equal marriage was inevitable.

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

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

“We were not accepted by our own families and society,” adds Ms. Waaddao. “There were times when we didn’t believe 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 authorities and society. And attitudes have changed.

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

“Back then, society couldn’t accept gay male leads being played. There was a lot of gossip about us in the media, much of it untrue, which really stressed us out,” recalls Mr. Chakrit.

“That’s when we decided that if we were going to date, we should 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 some credit for that.

The way LGBT characters are portrayed in Thai TV dramas, from comic oddities to mainstream roles, has made a big difference, according to Tinaphop Sinsomboontong, an assistant professor at Thammasat University who identifies as queer.

“These days, they portray us as normal characters like you see in real life,” he says. “The kind of LGBTQ+ colleague you might have at the office, or your LGBTQ+ neighbor. It really helped change the perceptions and values ​​of all generations.”

The so-called boy love dramas helped to orient the rest of society to the idea of ​​not just tolerance, but full acceptance and equal rights for the community.

These romantic TV dramas featuring love affairs between handsome young men have grown tremendously in the past decade, especially during the Covid pandemic.

They are now one of Thailand’s most successful cultural commodities, 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 efforts to change the law. Many different LGBT groups came together in the Change 1448 campaign – 1448 is the clause in Thailand’s Civil Code covering the definition of marriage – and later in the Rainbow Coalition for Marriage Equality.

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

Resuming pride marches in 2022 and forcing the government to recognize and promote Thailand’s appeal as an attractive destination for LGBT travelers also helped change public perceptions.

“We didn’t fight, we negotiated,” says Mr Tinaphop. “We knew we had to talk to Thai society and little by little we changed attitudes.”

Getting the Equal Marriage Act through Parliament was also aided by political developments in Thailand.

Five years after the 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 inheritance rights.

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 unexpectedly well. They won the third largest share of seats, revealing a growing hunger for change in Thailand.

When a year later Future Forward was disbanded with a controversial court ruling, it set off months of student protests calling for sweeping reforms, including curbs on the monarchy’s power.

LGBT activists were prominent in these protests, giving them greater national prominence. The protests eventually died down, with many of the leaders arrested for questioning the monarchy’s role.

But in the 2023 election, the successor to Future Forward, calling himself Moving forward, performing even better than 2019, winning more seats than any other party. Again, it was clear that the desire for change was felt among Thais of all ages.

Move Forward was blocked from forming a government by conservatives who opposed his call for sweeping political reforms.

But at the time, equal marriage was not so controversial. Few objected. And its passage gave the clumsy and unpopular coalition government, which was formed without Forward Movement, a quick achievement to please most of the country.

However, Thailand is something out of Asia. Few other countries in the region are likely to follow suit.

The influence of Islam in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei makes the idea of ​​equal marriage a non-starter. LGBT communities there face discrimination and persecution; in Brunei, sex between men is punishable by death.

In the Philippines, there is a growing acceptance of LGBT couples living together openly. But the Roman Catholic Church strongly opposes same-sex marriage.

In Vietnam, like Thailand, there are no religious or ideological barriers, but campaigning to change the law, as happened in Thailand, is difficult under a repressive regime. Much the same is true in China. Until the ruling Communist Party endorses equal marriage, which it shows no signs of doing, it cannot happen.

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

“To a large extent, conservative Christians are blocking it,” said Chae-yoon Han, executive director of the Beyond the Rainbow Foundation in South Korea.

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

India looked close to legalizing same-sex marriage in 2023 when the decision came down to the Supreme Court – but the judges refusedsaying it was up to Parliament.

So Thailand hopes to capitalize on being a pioneer. Tourism is one of the few areas of the Thai economy that is doing well during the post-pandemic recovery, and the country is perceived as a safe and welcoming destination for LGBT holidaymakers.

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

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 given to heterosexual couples.