With Thailand’s approval of same-sex marriage in an ad hoc session of the senate on June 18, 2024, a new chapter opened for LGBTIQA+ rights advocacy in the Southeast Asian region. The marriage law has been adapted with an inclusive and gender-neutral language version so that gender is not an obstacle for any sexual or gender diverse person, as well as granting adoption and inheritance rights immediately to all couples. Thailand is the first Southeast Asian country and the third Asian (after Taiwan and Nepal) nation to accept same-sex marriage.
In the past, the instruments and institutional bodies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the most important regional entity, had not provided a strong response to demands made by LGBTQIA+/SOGIESC groups from member countries. The Thai decision consolidates for the first time in the region decades of grassroots activism seeking to address the serious humanitarian situation faced by sexual and gender minorities. It also represents the opportunity for greater legal capacity and political activism at local, regional, and international levels.
An ongoing push for LGBTQIA+ rights in Southeast Asia
The process of protecting sexual and gender minorities began to take shape regionally with the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration (AHRD), signed in November 2012 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. This was a response to growing demands made at the international level—particularly at the United Nations—regarding the most urgent human rights issues in the region. While the final draft of the AHRD principles strategically omits the mention of SOGIESC or 2SLGBTQIA+ rights, it leaves room for interpretation by international advocates and activists, including an opening for the future incorporation of a diversity-based agenda.
Other attempts to institutionalize such an agenda have emerged within ASEAN through alternative mechanisms. These include the ASEAN SOGIE Caucus (ASC), founded in 2011 with the participation of activists representing eight out of the ten member states. The initial discussions in Southeast Asia regarding SOGIESC rights held in the years before the creation of the ASC were a response to direct calls from activists to address the criminalization and pathologization of SOGIESC minorities in the region. These discussions took up the Yogyakarta Principles, a human rights document signed by activists worldwide in 2006, as a roadmap for future advocacy and activist litigation. It applies the standards of international human rights law to address the abuse of human rights of the LGBTQIA+ population globally through international bodies and advocacy mechanisms, especially those provided by the United Nations.
Nevertheless, both the Yogyakarta Principles in international fora and the ASC in Southeast Asia have had a limited impact as they continue to be circumvented by the central directives of the United Nations and ASEAN, respectively. For its part, the ASC’s participation has taken place within the framework of boomerang activism, in which advocacy and demands are asserted at the United Nations to exert pressure at the local level. The UN’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) system is one of the mechanisms with the widest impact, as it highlights the precarious condition of the rights of sexual and gender minorities.
Some countries have shown positive development regarding SOGIESC, such as the Philippines and Indonesia, where attempts at advocacy have occurred and grassroots organizations seem to multiply. Both Indonesia and the Philippines have been subjected to UPR since their first cycle in 2008. However, the central government of the Philippines under President Ferdinand Marcos publicly rejected the report’s recommendations in 2022. Similarly, the government of Indonesia has passed laws that are increasingly harsh toward the LGBTQIA+ population.
The special situation in the Philippines is compounded by the growing tension between the government and grassroots LGBTQIA+ organizations—ASC among them, as its main office is located in Manila. Government hostility remains constant, with its continued citing of religious reasons for prohibiting SOGIESC rights. In some countries, such as Singapore and Brunei, the situation is even more critical, as the persecution of LGBTQIA+ organizations and collectives has become a recurring mechanism employed by the state.
A landmark decision and next steps
Equal marriage gained approval in Thailand after the 25-year celebration of Pride in Bangkok, supported by a strong LGBTQIA+ agenda in the center and north of the country and grassroots collectives that have decried the vulnerability of sexual and gender minorities. United Nations institutional bodies such as the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Rights of the Child, and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women have been instrumental in the local Thai discussion.
Visibility in regional media has also helped build new audiences empathetic to LGBTQIA+ communities. Programs such as “Drag Race Thailand,” “My School President,” “2gether,” and “Cutie Pie,” as well as the boy-love genre, have raised popularity and established a market.
The consolidation of one of the demands of LGBTQIA+ activism in Thailand not only stands as a local victory but also represents a beacon in the region. The growing humanitarian crisis in Southeast Asian countries such as Myanmar, Indonesia, and the Philippines makes Thailand a potential reception center for LGBTQIA+ migrants facing extreme vulnerability in their home countries. For this reason, a special fund provided by international bodies such as the United Nations will be crucial and enable the country to accommodate the arrival of this population.
Approval of same-sex marriage in the Thai Senate is just the first of many points on the SOGIESC/LGBTQIA+ agenda, and the challenges for the future are significant. The laws that are expected to follow in Thailand would address rights to medical assistance for transitions among transgender individuals, the legal change of name and gender, and the recognition of a third gender. Additionally, they would include a special protection program against homophobia, particularly in regions of the country where cases of violence and intolerance are most prevalent.
Thailand is emerging as a hub for sexual and gender minority rights for Southeast Asian countries, with great potential to consolidate LGBTIQA+ struggles and activism within ASEAN. However, for sexual and gender minority rights to be consolidated, financial support from international entities is needed for programs that protect the most vulnerable populations, like migrants of neighboring countries in crisis, and to solidify the advocacy struggles of political collectives in the country. Challenges remain, but Thailand presently offers a roadmap for achieving justice for gender and sexual minorities in Southeast Asia.