Gay rights advocacy groups seek help from opposition

LGBTQ+ advocacy groups are now turning to the opposition Pheu Thai Party for their support on attaining marriage equality in Thailand. This is coming on the heels of a major Constitutional Court ruling that essentially upheld the ban on same-sex marriage in the country. These groups are campaigning to revise the Civil and Commercial Code, which at the moment only recognizes marriage as being ‘between a man and a woman.’

A collective known as the Rainbow Fellows for Marriage Equality, which is a coalition of 58 different LGBTQ+ rights groups, sent an open letter to the leader of the Pheu Thai Party Cholnan Srikaew. The Rainbow Fellows hope that they can get one million signatures on a petition to redraft Section 1448, reports the Bangkok Post.

This is the statute of the Civil and Commercial Code that bans gay marriage. Specifically, the group wants the wording in section 1448 to be rewritten. They call for the words “husband” and “wife” to be switched to “spouse,” and they want the words “father” and “mother” to be changed to “parent.”

According to the Post, Cholnan supports the LGBTQ+ movement and the party means to present a draft amendment bill to parliament. A previous attempt to pass a civil partnership bill was shot down, according to the director of the Rights and Liberties Protection Department. Parliament sent the draft of the bill back to supporters with the demand that they describe the exact number of people that it would benefit. The director said that ascertaining the exact number of LGBTQ+ people in Thailand was impossible and that the request was just part of a political game.

SOURCE: Bangkok Post