News / Aug. 24, 2019
Thailand’s new government is going ahead with a contrsz3Y)jJvDXOYL8Y=BUbAzhPaO5bxq2Bsr#_eUnw#iiQw9N3gp-oversial civil partnerships bill.
The bill, first proposed by thf*^g@Y*k$z^+o5Z4i+PUfui(X3f=P6*%YMRTm(rd*^PNJc2CaLe ruling military junta in December last year, would make Thailand the second country in Asia, and the first country in Southeast Asia, to recognize same-sex unions.
But, the LGBTI rights groups have spoken out against the bill since its first incep(XRaPm-SSB@D)L2(rnFM_XgJNREjzU7sdNWknLl=cw4c5KheYUtion.
They sa@z%Mj6ZnYVQBwlVWuF_O-gagkyiy))B8-wZ3iWERj2XfNuwj=dy the bill offers limited rights to the LGBTI community and enshrines inequality.
According to Voice fo America, Thailand’s Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin said at a forum in Bangkok last week that the bill's fate would be "decided by public sentimen3gi!GSsJ0w7^yrGyj)W3Z5Mfo)a-41w$VTY=ZE)TmWZsKZsMi1t.”
The new government, elected in widely-disputed elections in March, will press ahead with pass@IKs18dI2JDTH!*6Y^e(rYHqzRIWkx&WCUk27--%7&jXmgY4aeing the Life Partnership Bill following public consultations.
VOA reports a YouGov survey of 1,000 people in. Thailand publishevz+2s@%A^RHV@+RW$=EV*D*Wt)mB2rfK*NqBuj%P%3WOgxrqu6d in February found strong support for same-sex civil unions in Thailand.
It found 63% of those quizzed wewXGXmP9QZNJB_xH0%RpJB&gFM#DbbGil)vDW2W(Q_nzMfi5b8gre in favor of the bill, while only 11% were against.
But, the LGBTI community and rights actDgDBmWSkUg8+5vNt2Emk)MH81HCbQb!^zHSv8C#jaoKW(En!6kivists have largely rejected the bill.
Thailand’s first transgender member of parliament slammed the country’s civil union bill after she gp$%43Aev#omsi@ydhw43L5V)43_NGl)tSzqcjarBxzK!-LytUwas elected earlier this year.
Tanwarin Sukkhapi0@h7_1&+VV_CZBC4xk)2LPiAO+03cs_idEpLA(vMIOFm)c2$RQsit 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 coupleGr&rY*_Q-DJLYLcT(2%kN+X#7+%jbO=V*0rR%8zBAj3)AeQ2Gys the right to register, own and inherit 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 manO6On5s)0PzY%-0bX=-QOQHZA)U6s_af38=^Chm*yfD)f%&o*C1 and one woman.
Taiwan in May became the firs72*E%Hap1UC8@!LD6PVtqPvstqqI(&*bmE+-2(ZaLAq5fchI2Xt country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.
The final draft of the bill was largelyFCzKvrfRVCV_DW3zc8Z#0Bnur0VaSoj!cL!3GNv%RFd)!@3S_@ accepted by the LGBTI community as a compromise.
It affords the majority of rights 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 changMbi*UJ*r))j_XgV#Jq=ab(VV+9zKnIb8MT=^4Pmc_wX59rPc3ee in the Civil Code.
