The Thai parliament will soon consider a bill that guarantees equal rights for gays, lesbians and transsexuals. Thailand is the first country in Southeast Asia to consider same-sex marriage.
Last year, 55-year-old Nathee Theeraronjanapong and his partner Atthapon Janthawee decided to tie the knot after twenty years of relationship. But the local government in the northern city of Chiang Mai refused the marriage on the grounds of Thai law, which prohibits same-sex marriages.
The couple filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission in parliament. They stressed that under the Thai constitution, they were entitled to the same protection as everyone else. In doing so, they unleashed a political storm that eventually led to the establishment of a committee of parliamentarians, scientists and gay rights activists to devise new legislation.
Wiratana Kalayasiri, the committee's Democratic representative in parliament, says there was a lot of opposition among the usually older representatives. “Initially there was a negative impression and people asked me why I committed myself to this. But gradually people began to understand that this is a human right of the Thai people, which is guaranteed under the constitution. Since then, opinions have changed,” he says.
Acceptance
Gay rights activists such as Anjana Suvarnananda hope the bill can improve acceptance by the Thai people. “Many gay, lesbian and transgender people struggle with the problem of parental acceptance,” she says. “There is a lot of pressure to accommodate the traditional vision of what a family is. That is why it is important that the definition of marriage, currently between a man and a woman, changes. If we can launch the idea that a family can grow out of the bond between two people who love each other, then our parents and our society will accept our way of life more quickly.”
In 1956, the ban on sodomy was removed from Thailand's penal code and same-sex sex became legal. Thailand is now the first country to consider same-sex marriage, confirming its progressive image. The rest of the region is much less open-minded. Sodomy is punished in Brunei, Burma, Malaysia and Singapore, among others.
Source: IPS
They are moving in the right direction there in Thailand. Hope more countries in Asia will follow.
That 'the surrounding countries are less open-minded' has less to do with the population than with colonial history.
The former French colonies in the region (Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos) upon their independence followed the liberal laws introduced by Napoleon, i.e. principled equality with heterosexuality.
The English colonies (and these are precisely the countries mentioned where 'sodomy' is punishable) adhered to Victorian British law.
Until the XNUMXs, legislation in the Dutch East Indies was freer than in the mother country.
In this connection, see also the work of the Dutch Sanskritist JF Staal, who has retired to Chiangmai: Seven Mountains and Three Rivers.
In SIam, by the way, homosexuality was traditionally impunity, if it did not concern children under 12, threats of violence or younger relatives (see the comprehensive work of Magnus Hirschfeld, Die Homosexualitaet des Mannes und des Weibes, 1914, p. 856v.)
If they also change the birth certificate and identity of transsexuals, they are certainly on the right track. Now they still walk with an identity of being a man, nice if you go abroad I think.
This has long been arranged here in Belgium and the Netherlands.
An important step, but the message is not entirely correct, dear editors. Thailand is not the first country in Southeast Asia to consider same-sex marriage. Exactly one year ago, Vietnam announced that it was considering same-sex marriage. The proposal is likely to be discussed in parliament there next year.
http://www.nrc.nl/nieuws/2012/07/29/vietnam-overweegt-invoering-homohuwelijk/
Arrange for abortion and euthanasia. Then they're all set.
That long enough?