(23 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Bangkok – 23 January 2025
1. Apiwat Apiwatsayree and Sappanyoo Panatkool, newly married gay couple with bouquet of flowers leaning over terrace and waving after registering their marriage
2. Apiwatsayree and Panatkool registering their marriage
3. Vouple posing for pictures
4. Close of marriage certificates
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Apiwat Apiwatsayree (known as "Porsch") on left; and right is Sappanyoo Panatkool (known as "Arm"), newly married gay couple:
Panatkool "We can love equally, legally."
Apiwatsayree "And we can build our family in our own way. Because I believe that every kind of love, every kind of family is as beautiful as it is and we are now allowed to build our own kind of family with the support of the law."
6. Pan across hall where dozens of couples are registering their marriages
7. Close of certificates – pull out to wide of couple
8. Close of one couple pan to husband
9. Pan across hall
10. Couple wait to register marriage
11. Close of certificates – zoom out to couple holding them
12. Various of couple
STORYLINE:
Hundreds of LGBTQ+ couples in Thailand began making their wedded status legal Thursday, the first day a law took effect granting them the same rights as heterosexual couples.
The enactment of the Marriage Equality Act makes Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia and the third place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, after Taiwan and Nepal.
Marriage registration is customarily done at district offices, but on Thursday, around 300 couples are expected to complete the formalities at a daylong gala celebration in an exhibition hall at a shopping mall in central Bangkok.
Hundreds more are predicted to register in less extravagant circumstances around the country.
The marriage equality bill, which sailed through both houses of parliament, amended the Civil and Commercial Code to change the words “men and women” and “husband and wife” to “individuals” and “marriage partners.” It is supposed to open up access to full legal, financial and medical rights for LGBTQ+ couples.
Partners will have equal rights and responsibilities in dealing with joint assets, tax obligations and deductions, inheritance rights and survivor benefits.
Thailand has a reputation for acceptance and inclusivity, and thousands of people from around the world attend the annual Bangkok Pride parade.
But rights advocates have struggled for decades to pass a marriage equality law in a largely conservative society where members of the LGBTQ+ community say they face discrimination in everyday life, although they note that things have improved greatly in recent years.
Couples interviewed earlier this month by The Associated Press expressed happiness with the new law, even those already settled in contented long-term relationships.
Bangkok’s city government has said that it organized workshops for staff of all its district offices who are in charge of handling marriage registration.
They included lectures raising awareness about gender diversity and guidance on how to properly communicate with those who come for the service.
The Interior Ministry has offered similar guidance.
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