Campaigners call on the Thai government to establish a panel to monitor gender justice
LGBTI rights activists in Thailand have submitted a petition calling for a panel that will conduct monitoring for gender justice.
Kittinan Tharamathat, president of the LGBT group Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand, submitted the petition with human rights activists, Nada Chaijit and Sirisak Chaithet.
The trio were accompanied by LGBT members of Thailand’s center-left Future Forward Party.
‘It is now the time for Thailand to be one of the countries where discrimination must be subverted,’ The Bangkok Post reported Kittinan saying.
The group submitted the petition to Thanikan Ponpongsaroj, the spokesperson of a committee that drafts the rules related to House of Representative meetings.
LGBT rights in Thailand
Thailand is widely considered to be one of the most LGBTI-friendly countries in Asia.
Homosexuality was decriminalized in Thailand in 1956. Since then, the country has been actively marketed as a travel destination for LGBTI tourists.
Its capital, Bangkok, was even named the second-most gay-friendly city in Asia in 2017.
In December 2018, the Cabinet approved a bill that would recognize same-sex couples as life partners. This would grant same-sex couples some of the rights that married couples have, such as being able to adopt children.
The recent general elections in March saw Thailand electing Tanwarin Sukkhapisit the country’s first trans lawmaker. Kath Kangpiboon, transgender activist and University lecturer, also made history by running for prime minister.
Lacking full equality
Despite the progress, Thailand’s LGBTI community lacks full equality. LGBTI people still face numerous bureaucratic and legal hurdles.
Kittinan says that there is currently no law in Thailand that will prevent discrimination against LGBTI people.
In addition, he says that LGBTI people are discriminated against in the Thai job market.
Same-sex marriage is still not recognized, and a number of Thailand’s LGBTI rights activists have spoken out against the shortcomings of the civil union bill.
Thailand also does not legally recognize trans people as their chosen gender.
by Calum Stuart
Source – Gay Star News
