‘I’m proud of Thailand’: Couples to tie the knot in mass weddings as same-sex marriage become legal
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After decades of campaigning, the country is the first in southeast Asia to introduce full marriage equality. Copy link. twitter. facebook. whatsapp. When Joe met Mate seven years ago, the odds were hardly stacked in their favour. Not only did the men live in different countries – Singapore and Malaysia – but at the time, it was effectively illegal to be gay in both of them.
As their romance evolved from a Tinder match to a loving relationship, the pair were in defiance of colonial-era legislation criminalising homosexuality. And while the laws were rarely enforced, the couple were still careful not to attract unwanted attention in public.
But there will be none of that caution this week. On Thursday, Joe and Mate will tie the knot in central Bangkok, joining roughly 200 couples in a joyful mass-wedding that marks a seismic shift in Thailand. After decades of campaigning and countless setbacks, the country is becoming the first in southeast Asia – and only the second in Asia after Taiwan – to introduce full marriage equality.
“I’m proud of Thailand, I’ve been bragging to friends that finally we can do this,” says Joe, a 46-year-old Thai national, as he sips a beer at a rooftop bar overlooking the capital city. “I had not really imagined we would ever be able to get married.”.
Three years ago the couple moved to the outskirts of Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, where they built a house overlooking idyllic rice fields and adopted a chocolate-brown labrador, called MJ. Getting married won’t change their daily relationship, but it will provide critical rights.
