People take part in a Pride march in the Thai city of Chiang Mai last month. The country’s senate votes on a marriage equality bill Tuesday. – AFP photo BANGKOK (June 19): Thailand on Tuesday became the first country in Southeast Asia to legalise same-sex marriage, in a historic parliamentary vote hailed as a “victory” by campaigners.
The upper house Senate gave final approval — by 130 votes to four, with 18 abstentions — to changes to the marriage law allowing same-sex couples to tie the knot. The new legislation will now go to King Maha Vajiralongkorn for royal assent and come into force 120 days after publication in the official Royal Gazette. Thailand will become only the third place in Asia where same-sex couples can get hitched, after Taiwan and Nepal, and activists are hoping the first weddings could be celebrated as early as October.
“We are very proud of everyone involved in this historic moment. You have helped to bring about a massive change,” Plaifah Kyoka Shodladd, an LGBTQ activist and member of the committee that scrutinised the law, told senators after the vote. “Today love wins over prejudice.
” Ahead of the vote, Tunyawaj Kamolwongwat, an MP with the progressive Move Forward Party, said the change in the law was “a victory for the people”. The new legislation changes references to “men”, “women”, “husbands” and “wives” in marriage laws to gender-neutral terms. It also gives same-sex couples the same rights as heterosexu.
