‘Equal marriage bill boosts Thailand’s chances of hosting World Pride 2030’
The recent approval of the equal marriage bill by Thailand’s lower House could help support the country’s bid to host the global LGBTQIA+ World Pride event in 2030, Kittinun Daramadhaj, president of the Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand (RSAT), said on Friday.
On Wednesday, as many as 399 members of Parliament voted in favour of the equal marriage bill in the second and third readings, with 10 dissenting, two not voting and three abstentions.
The bill will need to undergo a three-reading process in the Senate, and obtain royal assent before being enacted.
Kittinun said if the equal marriage law made it through this process, Thailand would become the first nation in ASEAN and the third in Asia, following Taiwan and Nepal, to recognise same-sex marriage.
He pointed out that the bill would greatly benefit tourism and related industries, such as wedding organisations, while many foreign same-sex couples could also be heading to Thailand to register their marriage.
“In 2015, the United States approved same-sex marriage, causing a hike in cashflow to the economy of nearly 400 billion baht in that year,” he said. “With the bill approved, Thailand could become the new destination for LGBTQIA+ communities, who number more than 600 million worldwide.”
Kittinun added that the equal marriage bill is also vital to Thailand’s chance to host the World Pride 2030 event, as having laws that support LGBTQIA+ rights are among the prerequisites set out by the organisers.
RSAT expects that other drafts related to gender equality will be deliberated soon, including the draft on certification of gender identity, which will allow people to have rights and duties depending on the change of their gender.
With over 12,000 signatures collected, the Move Forward Party, which proposed the draft, expected it to be included in Parliament’s agenda by June this year.
