Progress in a marriage equality law in Thailand is stuck more because of the ongoing political crisis than any serious social opposition to same-sex couples marrying.
Thailand already was in the forefront of Asian countries with a bill in parliament for acknowledging marriage equality.
However, the prolonged fluid situation of current Thai politics which saw parliament’s dissolution, a general election that was nullified and a caretaker government that has no authority to introduce new laws, did not see that bill proceed.
Presently, Yingluck Shinawatra’s status as caretaker prime minister is at stake and her cabinet may be dissolved automatically if she is found by the Constitutional Court to have abused her authority.
Such pressing political considerations have removed the equality rights bill from the forefront and relegated it to the back-burner, LGBT rights activists say.
Thailand officially and openly markets itself as a gay-friendly tourist destination, something no other Asian country does save for far away Israel. Thailand also leads the world with the highest number of gender reassignment surgeries.
Until last year, transgender women were only able to avoid conscription by being officially listed as mentally ill, a record that more often than not put them at a disadvantage while applying for employment.
Even during an earlier Bangkok gubernatorial race, the incumbent and frontrunner from one of the main political parties who was reelected had a pro LGBT message espousing sexual diversity.
Moves to draft a same-sex marriage law received much bipartisan support before it was unfortunately sidelined.
“These are changes that would no doubt be palatable to the wider and relatively broad-minded Thai public, since the law is clearly a long way behind society,” reports bangkokpost.com.
by Gay Asia News
Source – Fridae
