Why Thailand became a haven for LGBT couples

“This has been a long battle, full of tears, for us.” That’s how Ann “Waaddao” Chumaporn described the years of struggle to reach this moment. This Thursday, same-sex marriage will become legal in Thailand, and more than a hundred couples will tie the knot in a colorful celebration at one of Bangkok’s largest shopping malls.

In the long campaign to pass equal marriage laws, there’s been one question: Why Thailand? Why nowhere else in Asia, other than Taiwan and Nepal? People think they know the answer. Thailand is known for its openness and acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people. They have long been visible in all walks of life. Thais are easy-going about almost everything. “Mai pen rai,” or “never mind,” is a national mantra. More than 90% of Thais are Buddhist, and Buddhism does not prohibit LGBT lifestyles. So, equal marriage seemed inevitable.

However, that wasn’t the case. “It was not easy,” said Ms. Waaddao, an organizer of Bangkok’s Pride marches. The first Pride march in Thailand was 25 years ago. Back then, it was difficult to get police approval, and the march was a chaotic, unfocused event. After 2006, there were only two more marches until 2022. A planned Pride march in Chiang Mai in 2009 was abandoned because of threats of violence. “We were not accepted by our own families and society,” Ms. Waaddao added. “Sometimes we thought marriage equality would never happen, but we never gave up.”

“We didn’t fight, we negotiated.” While there is a general tolerance towards LGBT people in Thailand, winning equal rights, including marriage, required a determined campaign to change official and societal attitudes in Thailand. And attitudes have changed. When Chakrit “Ink” Vaddhanavirat began dating his partner in 2001, they were both actors starring in television dramas. At the time, the Thai health ministry still officially described homosexuality as a mental illness. “Back then, society could not accept a gay man playing a leading male role. There was a lot of gossip about us in the media, much of it untrue, and it really put pressure on us,” recalled Mr. Chakrit. “We decided at that time, if we were going to date, we had to leave show business.” They are still together, but they have been out of the spotlight for more than 20 years, running a successful production company.

A lot has changed in that time—and their industry deserves some credit. The way LGBT characters are portrayed in Thai television dramas, moving from comical oddities to mainstream roles, has had a big impact, said Thinnapob Sinsomboonthong, an assistant professor at Thammasat University who identifies as queer. “Now, they portray us as normal characters, just like you see in real life,” he said. “An LGBTQ+ colleague you might meet in the office, or your LGBTQ+ neighbor. This has really helped change the perceptions and values of all generations.” So-called “Boys’ Love” dramas have helped the rest of society accept not just tolerance, but the idea of full acceptance and equal rights for the community. These romantic dramas, featuring love stories between handsome young men, have exploded in popularity over the past decade, especially during the Covid pandemic. They are now one of Thailand’s most successful cultural exports, with huge audiences in places like China. Dramas like “My School President” and “Love Sick” have been viewed hundreds of millions of times on streaming networks.

Meanwhile, activists have become more focused and united in their efforts to change the law. Many different LGBT groups came together to launch the “Change 1448” campaign—1448 is the clause in Thailand’s civil code that defines marriage—and later formed the “Rainbow Coalition for Marriage Equality.” They linked up with other groups campaigning for greater rights and freedoms, and learned to work with political parties in parliament, persuading them to change their position on the law. The revival of Pride marches in 2022, and the government’s recognition and promotion of Thailand’s appeal as an attractive destination for LGBT travelers, also helped to shift public perceptions. “We didn’t fight, we negotiated,” said Mr. Thinnapob. “We knew we had to have a dialogue with Thai society, and little by little, we changed attitudes.”

Bringing the equal marriage law to parliament was also helped by political developments in Thailand. For five years after a coup in 2014, the country was ruled by a conservative military junta that was only willing to consider recognizing civil partnerships for LGBT couples, without the full rights, such as inheritance. But in the 2019 elections that restored civilian rule to Thailand, a new, young, reformist party called “Future Forward” did surprisingly well. They won the third-largest number of seats, revealing a growing desire for change in Thailand. A year later, Future Forward was dissolved by a controversial court ruling, sparking months of student-led protests calling for sweeping reforms, including limits to the powers of the monarchy. LGBT activists featured prominently in these protests, giving them greater national visibility. The protests eventually subsided, with many leaders arrested for questioning the role of the monarchy. But in the 2023 elections, Future Forward’s successor, calling itself “Move Forward,” did even better than in 2019, winning more seats than any other party. Again, it was clear that Thais of all ages felt a desire for change.

Move Forward was blocked from forming a government by conservatives opposed to its calls for sweeping political reforms. But by that time, the controversy over equal marriage had subsided. Few people opposed it. Passing it allowed the awkward and unpopular coalition government that was formed without Move Forward to claim a quick achievement, pleasing a large section of the country. Thailand is an outlier in Asia. Few other countries in the region are likely to follow suit. The influence of Islam in Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei makes the concept of equal marriage impossible. LGBT communities there face discrimination and persecution; in Brunei, sex between men is punishable by death. In the Philippines, there is growing acceptance of LGBT couples living together openly. But the Roman Catholic Church is strongly opposed to same-sex marriage. In Vietnam, like Thailand, there are no religious or ideological barriers, but under a repressive regime, it is difficult to run a campaign to change the law like the one in Thailand. The situation is much the same in China. It is unlikely to happen until the ruling Communist Party approves of equal marriage, and it has shown no sign of doing so.

Even in democracies like Japan and South Korea—where political parties are mostly conservative and dominated by older men—the prospects are bleak. “It’s mostly conservative Christians who are blocking it,” said Chae Yoon-han, the executive director of the Beyond the Rainbow Foundation in South Korea. “Most, if not all, of the politicians in President Yoon Suk-yeol’s conservative party are devout Christians who define marriage equality as a ‘left-wing agenda’ that could open society to a ‘leftist, communist takeover.’” India seemed on the verge of legalizing same-sex marriage in 2023, when the decision was handed to the Supreme Court—but the judges declined, saying it was up to parliament. So Thailand hopes to benefit from being a pioneer. Tourism is one of the few sectors of the Thai economy that has performed well in the post-pandemic recovery, and the country is seen as a safe and welcoming destination for LGBT vacationers. Increasing numbers of same-sex couples from other Asian countries are now choosing to live here. The legal recognition they will gain for their marriages will allow them to raise children, and grow old together with almost all the rights and protections enjoyed by heterosexual couples.