Yes to marriage equality; hurray to Thailand!
Thailand has become the first Southeast Asian nation to legalize marriage equality.
The Marriage Equality Act, which was passed in a historic parliamentary vote last June 2024, was ratified by King Maha Vajiralongkorn in October 2024, and now comes into effect.
With this, the kingdom’s marriage law now uses gender-neutral terms in place of “men”, “women”, “husbands” and “wives”.
The new law also:
- grants the same adoption and inheritance rights to same-sex couples as heterosexual couples
- grants same-sex partners power to make medical decisions for ill or incapacitated partners
- extends personal financial benefits, including state pensions, to same-sex spouse
Thailand is now the the third country in Asia to legalize marriage equality, after Taiwan and Nepal.
