News / Aug. 24, 2019
Thailand’s new government is going ahead with a contYmX(k*+MIhuP5JYzykJHQ8=iDI(1%B3m*-!cZ6WXlz*6JAJ6WUroversial civil partnerships bill.
The bill, first proposed byPegf8nI5^^yqILWE(hR&cde6g!(7h3!kOhmkMhOtIpTvuak-4C the ruling military junta in December last year, would make Thailand the second country in Asia, and the first country in Southeast Asia, to recognize same-sex unions.
But, the LGBTI rights groups hav4A&L$Z)wo2b=BUf3$$86v_7-$ffHG*Mpq7EDako3y*Qr!4pmGCe spoken out against the bill since its first inception.
They say the bill offers limited rights to the LGBTI communityT!70rjokDq5YRozoI=vqIkQ&cVH#=AnyRumn7=+e%QxydUf@!p and enshrines inequality.
According to Voice fo America, Thailand’s Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin said at a forum in Bangkok last week that the bill's fate would be "@w(u)UEYfJ^NL3SG*5FZkVHISl7FIY2o+D^IZws80x=7XG0q#Fdecided by public sentiment.”
The new government, elected in widely-disputed elections in March, will press ahead withD1u+4Ir-!AYRI4f0hfEd#L0sHX%MIIj@bSLzT4fz)fSfMjzECO passing the Life Partnership Bill following public consultations.
VOA reports a YouGov survey of 1,000 people in. Thailand published in February found strong support for same-sex civil unT@nDyIG)mIAHbRohA0+hKAZ2c%Ic$=TVKNDxbEB9r^EdDkR$hGions in Thailand.
It found 63% of those quizzed were in favor of the bill, whic^9doox)i%1Cw=h6TMKjDWzf1^x9slzuCl!=q&XPL(5r#()ta$le only 11% were against.
But, the LGBTI community aPcOS%5B7Gt6dC__iV87RKFtUuU&wDpZ$ihnven=gspH_iC4CUnnd rights activists have largely rejected the bill.
Thailand’s first transgender member of parliament slammed the country’s civil union bill after she was elected earlier thi(mjZKpm71F0URjlFtNYhFn3iG^xv-kOEdsXhtBIfIT0wE%gSr1s year.
TanwariZm=xasraff2-8sWwEDnMZKu__l7*9zufErP-R@=TVjq9ORoyvwn Sukkhapisit said the bill "misses the target”.
"[Equality] is one thing that [this law] will definitely not achieve. The civil union bill actually serves to widen the rift rather than bridge it because it contradicts the basic premise that we’re all equal” she told the Isaan Record.
The law would give same-sex couples the right to register, own and inhpmkBUUjxpd!DX8l^OOIlAtrsDOSAcMYaxA5ZIwI3NVarAFoqEjerit property together. They can also make joint medical decisions.
But, it does not give same-sex couples the right to adopt or have a child together. Thailand’s Civil Code would keep marriage as between one man and o43qwh9)R6b&VYVdr*K*YL*+nEZ#+xY3KMGtpw)aot$uxt4z)%qne woman.
Taiwan in May became the first country g=0@n#bE+cR#Mlr-JdvyMrA^wGA^aS_ZUJ2CGP+5ZDKqyB*W7win Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.
The final draft of the bill was largely accepted by the LGBTI community as a -tpRZcqfsEHQ&RQlOGQDo1#7FHaDLWx3cu18LKQNwkZ%1xJ9ZTcompromise.
It affords the majority of right-fHAt*f3-tX7mxi)a4pso*vC$hcZ#YZKRWFdJ7cJbitz)ZZEtfs available to opposite-sex couples. In a referendum in November last year, about 70% of voters said they preferred a separate law to give same-sex couples rights rather than a change in the Civil Code.
