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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.

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Speaker 2: January twenty third was probably an unremarkable Thursday for you,

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Speaker 2: But for Plus and Gay, a lesbian couple living in Bangkok, Thailand,

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Speaker 2: it was a big day, the first day same sex

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Speaker 2: marriage was officially made legal in the country.

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Speaker 3: We'd done sleep at night, We wig up at three

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Speaker 3: am and go to Seamparocon at six am in the

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Speaker 3: early morning, like a first couple in the corridor from

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Speaker 3: Siam Parcon.

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Speaker 2: That's Gay, a thirty two year old pastry chef. They

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Speaker 2: and their partner Plus were first in line to get

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Speaker 2: married at Siam Paragon, a bustling shopping mall in Bangkok.

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Speaker 2: After waiting for almost two hours, they sat down in

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Speaker 2: front of an official and signed papers that made them

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Speaker 2: a married couple in the eyes of the law. In

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Speaker 2: the video so they sent us of the event, the

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Speaker 2: couple are seated next to each other at a table,

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Speaker 2: holding hands, watching the official sign off on documents in

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Speaker 2: front of them. Plus sniffling holding back tears of joy.

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Speaker 2: Gay looks more composed, holding Plus's hands and reaching over

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Speaker 2: to give them a reassuring pat on the leg, and

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Speaker 2: as the official closes the file, they each bring their

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Speaker 2: palms together and bow slightly to him in a gesture

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Speaker 2: of things. They look at each other and hug through tears.

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Speaker 2: For the signing ceremony, Gay and Plus were dressed in

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Speaker 2: matching traditional wedding attire of red, white and gold.

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Speaker 3: Does she you were the the raidskirt like a tidy sigh?

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Speaker 1: Yeah? Tight close.

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Speaker 3: It's the first time she sees where the tycos doom

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Speaker 3: and very shying and excited for her.

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Speaker 2: She looks like a princess from the picture.

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Speaker 3: Yes, I tell her she is my twinsip.

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Speaker 1: Every day.

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Speaker 2: After the registration, Plus and Gay joined a pride parade

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Speaker 2: to se celebrate the historic milestone with hundreds of other

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Speaker 2: same sex couples who got married in the same mall.

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Speaker 2: The shopping center is no longer a registration site, but

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Speaker 2: there are now more than nine hundred offices across Thailand

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Speaker 2: that can officially license same sex marriages. That began January

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Speaker 2: twenty third. Recognizing same sex marriage is a big change

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Speaker 2: for Thailand.

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Speaker 4: Actually, Southeast Asian countries have a history of colonial era

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Speaker 4: laws that prosecute homosexuality.

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Speaker 2: That's Bloomberg reporter putpitcha tanaka sempipat like most Thai people.

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Speaker 2: She goes by a nickname Best and is based in Bangkok.

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Speaker 4: So in a lot of countries, sexual relations between people

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Speaker 4: of the same sex are actually criminalized.

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Speaker 1: So Thailand is the.

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Speaker 4: First country in Southeast Asia to recognize same sex marriage

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Speaker 4: and only the third place in Asia after Taiwan and

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Speaker 4: Nepal to do so.

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Speaker 2: It's certainly a victory for the Thai LGBTQ community that's

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Speaker 2: been fighting for marriage equality for more than a decade.

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Speaker 2: But by passing this law, Thailand isn't just a pioneer

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Speaker 2: for cultural change in Southeast Asia. It's also eyeing some

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Speaker 2: big economic gains.

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Speaker 4: The industry that is going to benefit the most would

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Speaker 4: be Thailand's tourism industry, which is a huge economic driver

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Speaker 4: and calls for twelve percent of Thailand's GDP. The Tourism

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Speaker 4: of Thailand estimated that LGBTQ tourists spend about forty percent

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Speaker 4: more each trip on average than just a regular tourist,

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Speaker 4: so there's a lot of incentives for Thailand to really

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Speaker 4: try to attract more LGBTQ visitors.

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Speaker 2: Welcome to The Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm Wanha.

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Speaker 2: Every week we take you inside some of the world's

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Speaker 2: biggest and most powerful economies and the markets, tycoons, and

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Speaker 2: businesses that drive this ever shifting region. Today on the show,

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Speaker 2: a special episode for Valentine's Day, Thailand's same sex marriage law.

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Speaker 2: How will it boost tourism, a crucial industry for the

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Speaker 2: country's economy, and what does this mean for other LGBTQ rights.

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Speaker 2: A week after Plus and Gay got married, we sat

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Speaker 2: down with a couple somebody Khau learn supadka a.

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Speaker 1: Zaia.

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Speaker 3: Hello, my name is Gay Kanet. I'm thirty two years

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Speaker 3: old and the percy here.

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Speaker 2: Gay and Plus were high school sweethearts, and when Gay

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Speaker 2: first met Plus at just fifteen years old, they said,

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Speaker 2: it was love at first sight for me.

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Speaker 3: He like shiny and rainbow for me because I don't

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Speaker 3: have girlfriend before. He like my first love in my life.

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Speaker 2: Plus and Gay are both from traditional families, and so

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Speaker 2: in the beginning they hid their relationship at home, and

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Speaker 2: Gay says at the time Thailand wasn't so receptive to

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Speaker 2: gay couples. People would give them weird looks as they

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Speaker 2: held hands walking on the street.

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Speaker 3: Yes, really uncomfortable because we go to the shopping mall right,

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Speaker 3: if we take a hand, ladies or some something is

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Speaker 3: weird in Thailand. You don't have You don't go each

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Speaker 3: other like a koppo olifen go to get the now,

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Speaker 3: I think it's okay, But ten years ago, no time.

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Speaker 2: Society did become more open minded over the next decade,

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Speaker 2: so much so that Gay and Plus's families eventually accepted

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Speaker 2: them as a couple, and in twenty twenty two, for

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Speaker 2: the first time, a Pride parade took place in Thailand.

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Speaker 2: Of course, Gay and Plus joined, but social acceptance is

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Speaker 2: just one part of the equation for same sex couples.

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Speaker 2: Plus and Gay had been living together for years, but

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Speaker 2: they weren't able to make the kind of basic life

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Speaker 2: decisions that other heterosexual couples make all the time, like

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Speaker 2: buying a house or adopting a child. They weren't able

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Speaker 2: to register as each other's next of kin, either, which

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Speaker 2: became an issue when Plus had to undergo a major

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Speaker 2: bio duct surgery.

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Speaker 3: I need her mother to sigh when she needs to

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Speaker 3: form the big surgery. And it's so sad because I

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Speaker 3: met her every day. I leave with her, but I

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Speaker 3: don't sigh when he was sick. But I don't sign

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Speaker 3: for anything.

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Speaker 2: How do you guys think this new law is going

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Speaker 2: to change your lives going forward?

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Speaker 3: I think from now we like a husband and wife.

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Speaker 3: We have property and the bang from everything. I think

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Speaker 3: open because we have the marriage license. Now, we have

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Speaker 3: health insurance.

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Speaker 2: For now, game plus are planning to start a business together.

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Speaker 2: And the honeymoon to a soccer She lies?

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Speaker 1: She lies to your band.

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Speaker 3: Killed usja Osaka.

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Speaker 2: You mean Universal Studios Japan.

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Speaker 1: I want to go too.

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Speaker 2: What did it take for Thailand to pass this law

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Speaker 2: and the gains for the country's economy that's after the break.

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Speaker 2: To better understand how Thailand became the first country in

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Speaker 2: Southeast Asia to recognize same sex marriage, we brought.

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Speaker 4: In Patia Tanaka San Pipat. You can call me by

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Speaker 4: my tight nickname, which is Best. I'm a bureau reporter

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Speaker 4: at Bloomberg News in Bangkok.

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Speaker 1: Best.

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Speaker 2: What does the law change mean in practice?

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Speaker 1: Right? So, this so called marriage equality law is essentially

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Speaker 1: an amendment to the Civil and Commercial Code, which is

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Speaker 1: one of the seven primary codes of law in Thailand. Actually,

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Speaker 1: and what it.

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Speaker 4: Does is it swaps out gender specific terms for gender

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Speaker 4: neutral ones, for example, as it was before the Civil

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Speaker 4: and Commercial Code recognizes marriages only between a man and

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Speaker 4: a woman and now recognized as marriages between two individuals

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Speaker 4: instead of between a husband and a wife, so essentially

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Speaker 4: removed gender restrictions from the fundamental law that affects all

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Speaker 4: aspects of one person's life from birth to death. Basically

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Speaker 4: because the Civil and Commercial Code has nearly two thousand

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Speaker 4: sections relating to all aspects of your life, and changing

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Speaker 4: and removing gender restrictions from the language of this law

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Speaker 4: is really a fundamental change to ensure and guarantee equal rights,

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Speaker 4: especially in terms of marriage.

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Speaker 2: And what specific impact would this change in the law

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Speaker 2: have on gay couples lives.

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Speaker 4: It's basically nothing short of a life changer. It spends

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Speaker 4: things like child adoption and inheritance and assets management, as

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Speaker 4: well as signing medical content forms for each other, which

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Speaker 4: really is important when you have a life or death emergency.

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Speaker 2: Best how long has this fight for marriage equality been

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Speaker 2: going on in Thailand, I.

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Speaker 1: Would say at least the last thirteen years.

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Speaker 4: I remember seeing a headline in twenty thirteen of lesbian

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Speaker 4: couple going to register their marriage at a district office.

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Speaker 4: It was Valentine's Day. Lots of people were there. They

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Speaker 4: were the only couple that was the same sex, and

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Speaker 4: basically authorities turned them away because authorities didn't know what

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Speaker 4: to do with the same sex couple. And the headlines

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Speaker 4: ran pretty derogatory terms, pretty not nice terms, and had

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Speaker 4: a picture of like people looking at them nervously. But

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Speaker 4: last month, on January twenty third, the day this law

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Speaker 4: came into effect, it's really surprising for me to see

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Speaker 4: the same couple show up at the mass registration event

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Speaker 4: that I was at, and it was really heartwarming to

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Speaker 4: see them finally able to get married after all these years.

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Speaker 2: It must have been momentous for these couples. Why did

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Speaker 2: it takes so long, more than a decade, right for

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Speaker 2: this law to come to fruition.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, in the big picture, Thailand was dominated by male

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Speaker 4: military leaders for the better half of the century, and

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Speaker 4: sad to say, these leaders were very much like Mashow

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Speaker 4: men who had really rigid ideas about gender roles and

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Speaker 4: social hierarchies on what one is supposed to do within

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Speaker 4: such a structure, and it was not a discussion that

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Speaker 4: people could just have. But still, LGBTQ activists had been

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Speaker 4: really trying in the past two decades at least to

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Speaker 4: campaign for LGBTQ rights, so tragedies and bias was being

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Speaker 4: slowly shipped away in Thailand.

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Speaker 1: It was a long and gradual progress.

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Speaker 2: And was there tipping point over this period.

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Speaker 4: I would say that tipping point was actually the twenty

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Speaker 4: twenty three general election. Within the first few months of

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Speaker 4: starting a new government, they submitted their versions of the

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Speaker 4: amendment to the Civil and Commercial Code and the lawmakers

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Speaker 4: consolidated that into one bill and they passed it in

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Speaker 4: parliament in March twenty twenty four with an overwhelming amount

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Speaker 4: of support, which was four hundred votes for.

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Speaker 1: The bill and only ten votes against.

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Speaker 4: This was really a low hanging fruit for them because

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Speaker 4: so much work had been done by that point that

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Speaker 4: all they really needed.

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Speaker 1: To do is just give it a serious push.

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Speaker 4: And it was also in their benefit to try to

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Speaker 4: do this within the first few months of taking power,

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Speaker 4: so that they could also politically decrease the resistance that

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Speaker 4: might come from other controversial things that they were planning

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Speaker 4: to push in parliament as well.

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Speaker 2: Thailand's new ruling party had a number of more contentious

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Speaker 2: issues on its agenda, such as legalizing casinos and online gambling,

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Speaker 2: which faced a lot more opposition there were also eyeing

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Speaker 2: the economic benefits that this change could bring.

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Speaker 4: Lawmakers expected that this was going to create a huge

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Speaker 4: windfall for the tourism industry, which is a huge economic

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Speaker 4: driver for Thailand, contributing twelve percent to.

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Speaker 1: The country's GDP.

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Speaker 4: A recent study by AGODA found that recognizing same sex

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Speaker 4: marriage would benefit Thailand with an additional four million foreign

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Speaker 4: visitors per year and that is expected to create about

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Speaker 4: two billion dollars in economic value within the next two years.

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Speaker 2: And even though the marriage equality law was passed with

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Speaker 2: an overwhelming majority in parliament, are we seeing any resistance

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Speaker 2: from other groups to these broader LGBTQ rights.

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Speaker 4: There are some resistance in the Muslim community in Thailand.

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Speaker 4: So Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist country and we have

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Speaker 4: a Muslim majority population in three southern provinces in Thailand.

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Speaker 4: And since marriage equality was legalized in Thailand, we saw

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Speaker 4: banners being put up in mosques around the capitol Bangkok

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Speaker 4: at least that basically said same sex marriages are not

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Speaker 4: allowed here on these sites. So the law is effective

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Speaker 4: across the country, but in some areas it might be

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Speaker 4: culturally tricky, such as the Muslim majority provinces in the South.

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Speaker 2: Now does a marriage equality law pave the way for

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Speaker 2: other rights for the LGBTQ community. What's next after this?

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Speaker 4: There are lots of other changes happening across the board

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Speaker 4: that are not directly related to LGBTQ rights but have

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Speaker 4: a lot to do with LGBTQ people. For example, the

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Speaker 4: Health Ministry has proposed that it might push for commercial

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Speaker 4: sorocracy to be legalized, which would allow LGBTQ couples to

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Speaker 4: use circusy services and have children.

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Speaker 1: Also, there's a lot a lot of talks about.

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Speaker 4: Pushing for sex work to be protected under TAY law,

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Speaker 4: and this is relevant because a lot of ALGBTQ people

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Speaker 4: are in the sex work industry, and lawmakers are also

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Speaker 4: talking about potentially proposing bills to legalize prostitution, which, believe it.

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Speaker 1: Or not, in Thailand has been illegal since the nineteen sixties.

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Speaker 4: But still this is a huge stepping stone for sure.

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Speaker 4: LGBTQ activists have said that there are more agendas that

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Speaker 4: need to be pushed through in order to really advance

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Speaker 4: LGBTQ rights more.

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Speaker 2: This is the Big Take Asia from Bloomberg News. I'm wanh.

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Speaker 2: This episode was produced by Young Young, Naomi and Jessica Beck.

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Speaker 2: It was edited by Patti Hirsch and Thomas Cutty Abraham.

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Speaker 2: It was sound designed by Young, mixed by Alex Suguiera,

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Speaker 2: and fact checked by Eddie dun Our senior producer is

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Speaker 2: Namely Shaven, and our senior editor is Elizabeth Ponso. Nicole

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Speaker 2: Bloomster Bower is our executive producer, and Sagebauman is Bloomberg's

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Speaker 2: head of podcasts. Please follow and review The Big Tick

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Speaker 2: Asia wherever you listen to podcasts. It really helps new

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Speaker 2: listeners find the show. See you next time.