BANGKOK— On the fifth floor of a large Bangkok shopping mall, gay newlyweds strolled on a long rainbow carpet and posed for photos while other couples still waiting to get married lined up to file the necessary documents.
“Today is a milestone for the success of gender equality in Thailand,” said Permsup Saiaung, who came with her partner of almost two decades.
The couple were among hundreds of couples who married in a mass ceremony on Thursday as Thailand's same-sex marriage law came into effect.
The Marriage Equality Act, the first law of its kind in Southeast Asia, redefines marriage as a partnership between two people of either sex and grants same-sex couples the legal rights of traditional marriage on issues such as inheritance, adoption and medical benefits.
LGBTQ+ couples celebrate Thailand's marriage equality law in Bangkok.
(Jirasak Jivawavatanawanit / Associated Press)
“We are very happy today because we have fought for marriage equality for so long,” said Saiaung, 54, who runs a cafe with her new wife Puangphet Hengkham, 39.
The couple had never considered the benefits of marriage until Hengkham was injured in a motorcycle accident eight years ago. Saiaung was unable to authorize emergency treatment and instead had to locate Hengkham's elderly mother.
In 2019, the couple sued for the right to marry. The provincial and constitutional courts ruled against it.
Four years later, a bill to redefine marriage began moving through the legislature to rewrite the Civil Code so that marriage is no longer between a “man and a woman” but between a “person and a spouse.” The bill was approved by the Senate in June and approved by the King in September.
A newly married gay couple walks across a rainbow carpet in Bangkok on Thursday. It is the first day that a law came into force giving LGBTQ+ couples the same rights as heterosexual couples.
(Sakchai Lalit / Associated Press)
Many couples who attended the mass wedding said they wanted to be a part of history. For others, it was a necessary formality to ensure the legal rights of their long-term partners.
Jiraphat Multakorn, 42, began planning a wedding to Pornthipha Damkaew, 28, more than a year ago in the hope that the marriage equality law would be passed.
The two, who have been together for six years, held their own ceremony on January 11 and announced the official wedding on Thursday morning.
As a legal spouse, Damkaew can share in the benefits Multakorn receives as a military officer, and they hope this will help them get a loan to buy a house together.
“My partner has been through a lot with me and is by my side as a mentor and best friend,” said Multakorn. “It’s time for her to be my life partner too.”
Waaddao Chumaporn is a prominent gender rights advocate and co-founder of Bangkok Pride.
(Stephanie Yang/Los Angeles Times)
Thailand has long been known as a haven for LGBTQ+ communities, especially in contrast to other Asian countries where homosexuality is still criminalized. It is only the third place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, behind Taiwan in 2019 and Nepal in 2023.
Kevin Pehthai Thanomkhet, 31, and Nathnicha Klinthaworn, 39, tied the knot on Thursday.
(Stephanie Yang/Los Angeles Times)
The queer scene in Bangkok is also a big draw for LGBTQ+ tourists, who are becoming increasingly important to the Thai authorities.
But marriage equality activists said they faced opposition from conservative lawmakers.
Waaddao Chumaporn, a prominent gender rights advocate and co-founder of Bangkok Pride who helped organize Thursday's mass wedding, said she hoped other laws could be changed to be more inclusive, such as using gender-neutral terms to define Parents.
“The state recognizes us as a couple, but it still doesn’t recognize us as a family,” she said.
Many activists also supported a gender recognition law that would have allowed people to choose their official names and titles based on gender identity rather than sex at birth. It failed in the legislative session last year.
Kevin Pehthai Thanomkhet, a 31-year-old transgender man, said he often has problems with banks and government institutions that address him as a woman.
Kevin Pehthai Thanomkhet and Nathnicha Klinthaworn present their wedding rings. They were one of the first couples to marry under Thailand's Same-Sex Marriage Equality Act, which legalized same-sex marriage.
(Stephanie Yang/Los Angeles Times)
The government's refusal to recognize him as a woman also meant he could not marry his long-time girlfriend until Thursday.
His father – who was upset when Thanomkhet came out as a lesbian in high school and again when he started taking hormones to help him transition – attended the wedding and said he was proud of his son.
Thanomkhet's wife, 39-year-old Nathnicha Klinthaworn, who goes by Maple, said it took a while for her family to accept her sexuality and her partner.
“The movement has been fighting for 20 years,” she said. “This is the day.”
Mayuree and Nitchakan Muangjareun pose for a photo after receiving their marriage certificate on Thursday.
(Stephanie Yang/Los Angeles Times)
By the end of the day, at least 1,839 same-sex couples had registered their marriages across the country. The 654 in Bangkok set a new Guinness World Record for the most same-sex marriages in a city in one day, surpassing the old mark of 160 in Rio de Janeiro set in 2013.
Outside the Bang Rak district office, 30-year-old Nitchakan said she had just taken the surname of her partner Mayuree Muangjareun, 28. The two met while working in the hospitality industry.
“We’ve been together for a while,” Nitchakan said. “I want the law to protect us because we don’t know what will happen in the future.”
For other couples, marriage is not an urgent issue.
When Pakodchakon Wongsupha, 68, started dating Kan Kerdmeemun, 73, thirty years ago, terms like LGBTQ+ didn't yet exist.
Family members questioned their closeness, but the women avoided discrimination by keeping to themselves and paid little attention to advocacy.
Pakodchakon Wongsupha, 68, and Kan Kerdmeemun, 73, have been together for 30 years. They support Thailand's new marriage equality law but are in no rush to get married themselves.
(Stephanie Yang/Los Angeles Times)
But last year, at the encouragement of some friends, the couple took part in their first Pride parade. There they met younger couples fighting for marriage equality and began attending other community events.
“The world has changed so quickly, and we have lived so long to see it,” Wongsupha said.
Other activists began calling them “Grandma” and “Grandpa,” pet names they have since adopted at home to replace traditional terms of endearment.
The couple celebrated with the younger generation when the marriage equality law was passed last year. Kerdmeemun cried when she heard the news.
But they are in no hurry to get married themselves.
“It doesn’t matter anymore whether we organize a ceremony or something like that,” Wongsupha said. “Staying together is enough.”
Special correspondent Wasu Vipoosanapat in Bangkok contributed to this report.