Thailand is now one step closer towards legally recognizing same-sex couples.
Yesterday, a subcommittee in the Justice Ministry announced that they are working on a bill that, if passed, will make same-sex partnerships legal in the country.
The subcommittee is set to meet on May 4 before presenting the final draft of the bill to the Ministry. If it passes there, it will then need to go through the Cabinet for approval.
After Taiwan announced last year that it would be legalizing same-sex marriage, we wondered which Asian country would be next. Thailand seems like a good bet due to its reputation as being LGBTQ friendly. That said, the country still has its homophobes, bigots, and intolerant religious folk who are holding the country back from progression.
As such, it seems that even Thailand needs to go at a baby crawl in order to get to marriage equality.
That said, we should not take away from this step in the right direction as many LGBTQ citizens have expressed.
When talking to Nation Multimedia, several LGBTQ citizens shared that this is exciting news.
As the Nation reports:
“Patthanan Prapairat, 38, said he has been with his same-sex partner for more than 20 years They have bought a house, run a clothing business together and have built a family life like any other straight couple
If the new law is implemented, they say they will definitely register their partnership. ‘It is a must-have that should have been in place years ago as it would be very helpful in protecting the rights of same-sex couples,’ he said ‘Same-sex couples are no different from straight couples We have accumulated a lot of assets and heritage together This law will be great for us.’”
In addition, 50-year-old Vitaya Saeng-aroon shared that he’s dealt with the problems of not having same-sex partnership status and would love to have the same rights as married couples.
“When my same-sex partner was in ICU earlier this year, I was not permitted to sign any document after he went into a coma I was not his relative, even though I had been taking care of him for over a year I had to wait for his brother from upcountry to show up,” Vitaya said
“After a week in ICU, he passed away peacefully I did not know about his death until his brother called me,” he added
If the bill is passed, couples like Vitaya Saeng-aroon and his late lover will not have to go through such tragedies.
Unfortunately, we have to wait a week to see if the bill wil succeed or not, but we will keep you all updated when that ruling passes.
h/t: Nation Multimedia
Hope so this bill will not
Hope so this bill will not create any injustice to same sex partner