Yup. Heavy handed regulations only disadvantage the law abiding and the conscientious, but scammers and criminals will go through the back door, which has not been shut. So, lose-lose.
If the Thai authorities start to mess too much with taxes (capital gains and worldwide), there will a large outflow of expats and consequently revenue. Fingers crossed.
Like a grown man who self identifies as a young pre-teen girl, who enters a swim meet for girls and changes in their bathrooms. Like a hire who is much less qualified but who must be assigned the job because the "decent" thing is to hire a person who is LGBTQ.
If activism in the west is a good point of reference, it does not stop at "we want respect." It goes on to foment hatred for anybody who disagrees and demands privilege.