Same Sex Marriage In Thailand, When?

[LeCharivari]

Thank you for the link, however I was hoping for some specifics on what legal rights straight Thais have that gays don't rather than rights that no Thais have, or gays didn't have in the past, or opinions of what's peachy.

I do agree with you on one point, however:

"I think gay Thais are quite seriously STIGMATIZED even to the point where it seems the majority of Thais don't know the difference between a gay Thai and a Thai ladyboy."

To the majority of Thais I also know there IS no "difference between a gay Thai and a Thai ladyboy" - they are both simply Thais who are far more likely to be discriminated against and pigeonholed because of their skin colour, ethnic origin, social background, profession, education or financial status than their sexual preference or sexual identity which are of considerably less importance.

When a new doctor recently opened a clinic in our district he was variously described as tall, fat, young, very good, funny, keen, helpful, and inexpensive - nobody mentioned that he was gay, even though he's as camp as a row of tents and my partner and I are obviously "an item". I thought that sort of acceptance and integration was something we (gays) wanted as an end game, rather than a fixation with differentiation.

[Jingthing]

Kudos to the American embassy for doing it's small part to influence countries all over the world in advocacy of furthering gay civil rights. In this case, THAILAND.

Yes, it is true the USA does not lead the world in gay civil rights, but the USA is still the most powerful nation on the planet, so these kinds of pro gay civil rights messages from official U.S. sources are definitely welcome.

The comments from the Thai gay activist are interesting. They indicate Thai gays do care about same sex marriage rights and they also indicate marriage is important to Thai people in general.

As a non-Thai, I do feel of course, it is THEIR business and they will work things out on their own schedule, based on their own culture and politics, just like any other country.

http://www.prachatai.com/english/node/3636

“I can’t say how many years it will take to achieve the final goal. Calm down and don’t be in a hurry,” said Danai. He said that a movement to legalize same-sex marriage started just three or four years ago in Thailand. “It’s been not long, compared to the US. They have been working on it for a long time.”

...

Danai also mentioned the importance of the marriage law as fundamental in society. Since marriage is one of the big events in one’s life and it is culturally important in Thai society that the couple should be accepted by all around them, so the law can be a symbol of society.

“We must consider carefully what impact a new marriage system will have on society, but we must obtain at least the same rights as male-female couples.”

The Thai gay activist leadership of young Mr. Danai appears to be a step up from the eccentric politics of so called Gay Nathee.

Edited July 4, 2013 by Jingthing

[LeCharivari]

Kudos to the American embassy for doing it's small part to influence countries all over the world in advocacy of furthering gay civil rights. In this case, THAILAND.

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Yes, it is true the USA does not lead the world in gay civil rights, but the USA is still the most powerful nation on the planet, so these kinds of pro gay civil rights messages from official U.S. sources are definitely welcome.

(edit)

(This is veering some way off topic, but if necessary I'll re-post it elsewhere.)

"welcome" by who, exactly?

"... these kinds of pro gay civil rights messages from official U.S. sources are definitely" NOT "welcome" as far as many gay civil rights movements are concerned in countries where the American approach and interference has in many cases made the position of gays considerably WORSE rather than better.

In Uganda, as if gays didn’t have enough problems, Canadian and American interference made their position far worse by doing exactly what an open letter from the CSCHRCL (Uganda’s civil and gay rights lobby) had asked them NOT to do, prompting the Huffington Post headline “TAKE YOUR WHITE HANDS OFF UGANDA'S GAY RIGHTS”. ( http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/muna-mire/uganda-anti-gay-bill-colonial_b_2160460.html )

In Pakistan the American fixation with public Gay Pride celebrations has played straight into Jamaat-e-Islami’s hands and could not have been designed to inflame anti-gay sentiment more if they had tried, being described as "cultural terrorism” as the US Embassy continue to hold Gay Pride events in Islamabad at a time when the US is already unpopular (at best) with drone attacks. At the same time there is a conspicuous absence of such events in Saudi Arabia which has a far more draconian attitude to gay and all human rights. (http://http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-14010106 ).

[Jingthing]

Welcome by the good people of the world who are in favor of human rights for gay people. Oy!

But you're right, the American connection is off topic.

It was only incidental to the fact that the Thai gay activist made some very interesting and very ON TOPIC comments about the issue of gay marriage in Thailand at a pro gay rights event at the AMERICAN embassy. So in the context of the article I added some comments about how the American government's position on global human rights and its connection to gay rights being WELCOME (by people who care about human rights) and I stand by that 100 percent.

Edited July 4, 2013 by Jingthing

[Scott]

Stay on the topic of the thread.

[fabulouswatches]

i heard that a quarter people in Thailand are homosexual?

[Jingthing]

i heard that a quarter people in Thailand are homosexual?

No.

Actually I think Thailand fits with the worldwide norm of gay men: FOUR percent.

People having MSM for various reasons at various points in the life does not mean they actually have a set homosexual orientation.