House okays same-sex marriage act draft but seeks 60-day Cabinet consideration

THURSDAY, February 10, 2022

THE NATION

The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved the Move Forward Party’s same-sex marriage act draft, with 219 voting for it, but decided that it must go before the Cabinet for a 60-day study.

Of the total 350 votes, 219 were in agreement while 118 members voted against it, with 12 choosing to abstain and one member not voting.

The Move Forward Party was however not satisfied with the decision giving the Cabinet 60 days to study the proposal, while netizens also voiced dissatisfaction, leading to the trending hashtag #สมรสเท่าเทียม (same-sex marriage).

“We must accept the truth,” Move Forward Party MP Benja Saengchan said. “[At present], love, marriage, couple life and right-to-family life limit a couple to being male and female.”

Move Forward Party leader Pita Limjaroenrat said the law would be a starting point of equality and the new norm of Thai society.

“We are trying to tell them that this society accepts diversity and our youth are not abnormal,” he emphasised.

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The party’s same-sex marriage act is an edited draft of the Civil and Commercial Code presented in 2020. It has the same objective as the same-sex marriage draft campaign by citizens via the website https://www.support1448.org/. The campaign has garnered more than 290,000 signatures.

The objective is to change Section 1448 of the Civil and Commercial Code and the following sections. Campaigners want to change the definition of marriage that can take place only between a “man and woman” to “two persons” so that everyone has equal rights