News / Aug. 24, 2019
Thailand’s new government is going ahead with a controversial civil partnershisIaEG^EAp^uoyMyG7(8F4RQKbEBNA$VRw^pHO+M2ZTKLcgL(IOps bill.
The bill, first proposed by the ruling military junta in December last year, would make Thailand the second country in Asia, and the first country in Southeast Asia, to recognize same-sex uni4$VznOs#yOK%Hm6JKrOw@c6Mqe!RQ^aFg8SsuBbKa76p9X!EGpons.
But, the LGBTI rights groups have spoken out agains931=Ku8-#yq3xds^*tUH@cVABv3E^f-TFKdidx-oG@3N+HtDK^t the bill since its first inception.
They say the bill offers limited rights to thh1t1BtT!$kt0c6yx=mdGDIfb-P3p4Xyc5kYaU10z5yU-@0lJeMe LGBTI community and enshrines inequality.
According to Voice fo America, Thailand’s Justice Minister Somsak Thepsutin said at a forum in Bangkok last week that the bill's fate would be "decided b-wZe$k7vLlzL(6QBq1VNXsbvLa--h!D^lL3L6AW=3t4_*#)a)Fy public sentiment.”
The new government, elected in widely-disputed elections in March, Ug)Ptu0zok@YjJQx@#xd_pH*fQZTK*7Ozlv2J_%7bTpBo2OQqGwill press ahead with 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 f3$$k61Gqsp51uXDjNHy**Xtf-3#Pcs7-gLik$2vELT=(%NrBe)or same-sex civil unions in Thailand.
It found 63% of those quizzed were in favor oX$07J%=SO^tSIqBcS8S(79wv!LAVZaFAjpWN)%WJ^zSQ1J7Fn1f the bill, while only 11% were against.
But, the Lr&W+IqBVNf-UW-w*0-1yb#Rh&S*=qtaW&%$Nka4+P@PqnYbFjuGBTI community and rights activists have largely rejected the bill.
Thailand’s first transgender member of parliament slammed the country’s civil u68AZAql4aaO*CAfZ9y^Ac2%I=-x%qQc6A#Ik7il*93A+^jSwTHnion bill after she was elected earlier this year.
Tanwarndpn)DEVTjG1ysRJ(5=DbnjCDJUVnPg#SsTw9CgbEf@)JA_vfHin Sukkhapisit said the bill "misses the target”.
"[Equality] is one thing that [this law] will definitely not achieve. The civil union bill actuall%9bmOK2phrdklHJFv3YZnvQ#^AYx!i98CtT1(fn(9T9GIlIUZmy 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 wouh(ChxahWCn((zI22!dKDK2_ZH70sj3=48Y+%+-zSUsflN^+js(ld give same-sex couples the right to register, own and inherit property together. They can also make joint medical decisions.
But, it does not give same-sex couples2sipge8s^Xcfe1@GBZYm)LYip!Zeo(*eo%eW=6u9!jQ+dzeIVu the right to adopt or have a child together. Thailand’s Civil Code would keep marriage as between one man and one woman.
TaiwasDH=9+)LNOxqglo-_Hf(-U8Bvw+d2XugU*i)hV@S*X9ong(9o$n in May became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.
The final draft of the bill was largely accepted by the LGBTI cofmIpTYa5m9uYc6dC&WjFyfaa&!lLbSNk1So0h1hjM)J%pZ9)L-mmunity as a compromise.
It affords the majority of rigez1T01TO8BG_xCyT8CcdBnjhTxRbSPU9Li_3yml#VGHv_NG4D_hts 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.
