Same-sex couples across Thailand got married at district offices and shopping malls as the long-awaited Marriage Equality Act officially took effect on Thursday.
A mass LGBTQ+ wedding in the capital, organised by the campaign group Bangkok Pride, was staged at Siam Paragon with hundreds of marriage registrations expected.
Other weddings were planned around the country, and organisers say they expected at least 1,000 couples to marry on the first day.
Thailand ranks highly in surveys of LGBTQ+ legal and living conditions and public attitudes, and Thursday’s milestone makes it the first Southeast Asian country to allow equal marriage.
The kingdom’s same-sex marriage bill was passed in a historic parliamentary vote last June, making it the third place in Asia to do so after Taiwan and Nepal.
The law officially took effect on Jan 23.
The law on marriage now uses gender-neutral terms in place of “men”, “women”, “husbands” and “wives”, and also grants adoption and inheritance rights to same-sex couples.
More than 30 countries around the world have legalised marriage for all since the Netherlands became the first to allow same-sex unions in 2001.
