What Thailand did is remarkable only against the backdrop of the unfortunate global trend against LGBTQ+ rights and in favor of harsh and discriminatory anti-gay laws. That’s particularly true in Asia and Africa. Uganda last year led a surge of African countries passing stringent anti-gay laws and criminalizing consensual same-sex relationships.
Also troubling is the apparent backsliding in the United States, nine years after the Supreme Court struck down state bans against same-sex marriages. While more than two-thirds of Americans still support same-sex marriage, approval among Republicans has dipped to 46 percent. That downward trend in Republican support might be linked to conservative politicians, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who have pushed discriminatory laws against teaching about sexual orientation in public schools and tried to curtail the rights of transgender people. Legal experts also speculate whether the Supreme Court’s emboldened conservative majority might overturn the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodges decision legalizing same-sex marriage on the same grounds it used to overturn Roe v. Wade — though some justices have sought to discourage such predictions.
Thailand has always been something of a progressive outlier in Southeast Asia. While adhering to conservative and Buddhist traditions — for example, alcohol cannot be sold in shops between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. and on certain designated religious holidays — Thailand is also the only Asian country to have legalized cannabis; marijuana shops are now as ubiquitous as massage parlors. Thailand has long shown a tolerance for openly gay and transgender people, who now appear regularly on television shows and are a staple of popular culture.
The Thai government might be thinking about its own self-interest in legalizing same-sex marriage. Legalization is likely a way to gain favor among younger Thai voters still angry that the main opposition party they supported, called Move Forward, won last year’s election but was blocked from forming the government by the conservative and military elite who still dominate the political system. The Move Forward Party now faces a likely dissolution before Thailand’s highest court, and its top leaders could be barred from politics for years, because of the party’s campaign position calling for reform of a restrictive law making it a crime to criticize the monarchy. When the party’s predecessor, Future Forward, was similarly dissolved after faring well in elections in 2019, angry young protesters took to the streets in widespread demonstrations, and more than 1,000 people, including children, were arrested in the ensuing crackdown.
Thailand is also still trying to revive its lucrative tourism market after the coronavirus pandemic lockdowns. Legalizing same-sex marriage now makes this country the most gay-friendly travel destination in Southeast Asia.
Whatever the government’s motives, the same-sex marriage law establishes Thailand as a bastion of respect for marriage equality and LGBTQ+ rights in an otherwise inhospitable region. Singapore decriminalized sex between men in 2022, but at the same time it enshrined in its constitution the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman. Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei, the region’s three Muslim-majority countries, remain fiercely anti-gay.
A criminal code in Indonesia that passed in 2022 criminalized any consensual sex outside of marriage — and because same-sex marriage is not allowed, it effectively criminalizes all forms of gay and lesbian sex. In Malaysia’s conservative-run Johor state, officials late last year announced plans to build a “rehabilitation center” for gay people and others deemed “deviant” to “get them back on the right path.”
In India, the country’s Supreme Court last fall rejected a citizen petition to recognize same-sex marriage, saying the decision was up to the elected Parliament.
Asians in general might not be as intolerant as their governments. A recent Pew Research Center poll found support for same-sex marriage as high as 68 percent in Japan, 65 percent in Vietnam, 58 percent in Hong Kong, 57 percent in Cambodia and 53 percent in India. Singapore was more evenly divided.
Various reports have found that, worldwide, legalization of same-sex marriage and recognition of LGBTQ+ rights correlate closely with a country’s democratic development. Democracy works best when it is based on the principle of equality for every person and a guarantee of equal rights for every citizen. Rank discrimination conflicts with these ideals. Democracy and recognition of same-sex marriage go hand in hand. That’s why Southeast Asia still lags behind.
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