Thailand Celebrates Its First Pride Parade With Marriage Equality

Thailand celebrated the onset of Pride 2024 on Saturday with its first pride parade since the country decided to legalize marriage equality. After Taiwan and Nepal, Thailand is the only other place in Southeast Asia to enact marriage equality laws. This year, Pride Month festivities have been endorsed by Thai politicians, government agencies, and some of the country’s largest businesses, another first for the nation. 

2024 will go down in Thailand’s history as the first pride parade to be one of celebration, rather than one of protest. The streets of Bangkok were decorated in rainbows as Thailand’s Prime Minister Mr. Srettha Thavisin, donning a rainbow shirt himself, joined the parade, marking the occasion as the first time a Prime Minister has ever done so.

“It is a basic right to choose who to love,” he posted on the X platform.

While the law is not completely enacted as yet, the second and third readings of the marriage equality bill are slated to take place later this month, signaling the formalizing of the laws. 

Organizer of Bangkok Pride Ann “Waaddao” Chumaporn told Associated Press that she hopes the parade can be “a platform that allows everyone to call out for what they want and express who they really are”. 

The Thai queer community has enjoyed a momentous time these past twelve months, but it hasn’t always been that way. LGBTQ activists fought for well over a decade to have the rights of the community legally recognized by their government. Now, queer people will be able to marry each other, participate in inheritance options, receive tax allowances, adopt children, and other benefits previously denied to them. 

Pride parades evolved as a form of protest, as a way to stay up for LGBTQ rights around the world. That has definitely been true of pride events in Thailand before now. This is the first pride parade where the Thai community can breathe a sigh of relief and look forward to a future of equality.

Happy Pride 2024, Thailand! You look beautiful in rainbows!

---

Follow us on X and Instagram for all queer stuff!

Featured Image: Image by Bangkok Post