Context:
Thailand’s same-sex marriage law came into effect on 23 January 2025, following a 120-day grace period.
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- This move aims to grant LGBTQ couples the same legal rights enjoyed by heterosexual couples under the existing civil and commercial code.
- The new law has also raised the minimum age of marriage from the previous 17 years old to 18 years old.
- Foreign same-sex couples can now register their marriages in Thailand, provided they prove they are not already married.
About the Law
- In March 2024, Thailand’s House of Representatives approved same-sex marriage with a strong vote (400 to 10). The Senate followed in June (130 to 4), and King Vajiralongkorn gave his approval in August.
- The new law, changing the Thai Civil and Commercial Code, took effect on January 23, 2025, after a 120-day grace period after it was officially approved by the King in late 2024.
- It replaces terms like “husband” and “wife” with gender-neutral words like “spouses” and “individuals.”
Limitations of this Law
Despite the progress, some binary gender categories remain in the law.
- For example, Section 1453 prohibits a woman from remarrying another man within 310 days after her husband’s death or divorce.
- This is intended to address paternity issues but presents a barrier for same-sex couples.
The new marriage law does not apply to the four southern provinces of Thailand, where Islamic law governs family matters.
Current surrogacy laws only allow heterosexual couples to access altruistic surrogacy.
Thailand also lacks a clear framework for recognizing transgender individuals’ gender identity on official documents.
India’s Stance on Same-sex Marriage
- The Indian legal system does not recognise same-sex marriages. Section 4 (c) of the Special Marriage Act restricts marriage solely to unions between a ‘male’ and a ‘female’.
- In the Puttaswamy case (2017), the Supreme Court of India recognised the Right to Privacy as a fundamental right under Articles 14, 19 and 21 of the Constitution. It also held that “sexual orientation is an essential attribute of privacy.”
- In 2018, the Supreme Court in the Navtej Singh Johar case decriminalized same-sex relations between consenting adults by striking down Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code.
- In November 2022, the Supreme Court in Supriyo v. Union of India, admitted writ petitions challenging Section 4 (c) of the Special Marriage Act.
- In May 2023, the Solicitor General of India told the Supreme Court bench that a parliamentary committee would be formed to study providing limited legal rights to same-sex partners.
- On October 17, 2023, the Supreme Court declined to legalise same-sex marriages, maintaining that it is for the Parliament of India to decide on the legality of same-sex marriage in the country. It added that the rights of LGBTQ+ people must be upheld.