marriage equality
'Love Wins': Thailand Set to Be First Southeast Asian Nation to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage
"While there is no doubt that the legalization of marriage for LGBTI couples is a key milestone for Thailand, much more must be done to guarantee full protection," said one campaigner.
LGBTQ+ advocates around the world on Tuesday cheered the Thai Senate's passage of a bill legalizing same-sex marriage, a move that—if approved by the country's king as expected—would make Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia to do so.
The Bangkok Postreported Thai senators voted 130-4, with 18 abstentions, in favor of a bill to legalize same-sex marriages in the country of 72 million people. The Thai House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the legislation in March. The legislation would become law if it passes further review by the Senate and the Constitutional Court and is approved by King Rama X. Royal assent is a formality that will almost certainly be granted.
"The bill represents a monumental step forward for LGBTQ+ rights in Thailand," Panyaphon Phiphatkhunarnon, founder of the advocacy group Love Foundation, toldCNN.
Plaifa Kyoka Shodladd, an 18-year-old activist, toldThe New York Times that "after 20 years of trying to legalize this matter, finally, love wins."
In Asia, only Nepal and Taiwan have achieved same-sex marriage equality. Thailand would become the 39th nation to legalize same-sex marriage worldwide.
Legalization "would underscore Thailand's leadership in the region in promoting human rights and gender equality," said the Thai Civil Society Commission of Marriage Equality, Activists, and LGBTI+ Couples.
Amnesty International Thailand researcher Chanatip Tatiyakaroonwong said in a
statement: "Thailand has taken a historic step towards becoming the first country in Southeast Asia to legalize marriage for LGBTI couples. This landmark moment is a reward for the tireless work of activists, civil society organizations, and lawmakers who have fought for this victory."
"While there is no doubt that the legalization of marriage for LGBTI couples is a key milestone for Thailand, much more must be done to guarantee full protection of LGBTI people in the country," Chanatip continued. "LGBTI people in Thailand continue to face many forms of violence and discrimination, including but not limited to technology-facilitated gender-based violence, which often targets human rights defenders."
"Thai authorities must build on the momentum and take further steps that protect the rights and ensure the participation of LGBTI people and organizations," Chanatip added.
Thailand's imminent legalization of same-sex marriage equality stands in contrast with the hundreds of pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation proposed or passed mostly in Republican-controlled state legislatures in the United States.
Advocates are also worried about the future of LGBTQ+ rights at the national level, as U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas suggested in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization—the ruling that erased half a century of federal abortion rights—that the high court could reconsider cases including Obergefell v. Hodges, which in 2015 legalized same-sex marriage nationwide.
Alito Renews Threat to Overturn Marriage Equality
"Overturning Obergefell is on their bucket list," said one journalist.
Trial attorneys in the U.S. frequently stop potential jurors from serving on cases based on their stated biases, but U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito indicated on Tuesday that he was disturbed by a case out of Missouri in which three people were eliminated from a jury after expressing homophobic views—and suggested the high court should reconsider marriage equality to prevent such outcomes.
The Supreme Court declined to take up Missouri Department of Corrections v. Jean Finney, with none of the justices dissenting. But Alito appeared reluctant in his agreement with the other eight justices and released a five-page statement saying the case "exemplifies the danger that I anticipated in Obergefell v. Hodges," the 2015 case in which the court ruled 5-4 that same-sex couples in the U.S. had the same right to marry as heterosexual couples.
The case out of Missouri on Tuesday centered on Jean Finney, who said she faced discrimination at the state Department of Corrections (DOC) after she began a relationship with another woman.
During her court case, Finney's lawyer questioned potential jurors about their views on same-sex couples to ensure they didn't harbor a bias against the plaintiff.
The lawyer asked the potential jurors, "How many of you went to a religious organization growing up where it was taught that people that are homosexuals shouldn't have the same rights as everyone else because it was a sin with what they did?"
Three people were eliminated from consideration after stating they believed homosexuality to be a sin.
The jury ultimately sided with Finney in her case, and the state DOC asked for a re-trial, claiming the potential jurors' 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law had been violated.
After the state Supreme Court declined to take up the case, Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey, a Republican, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review it.
The case, said Alito in his statement, showed that "Americans who do not hide their adherence to traditional religious beliefs about homosexual conduct will be 'labeled as bigots and treated as such' by the government."
The Obergefell ruling "made it clear that the decision should not be used" to discriminate against people for their religious views, wrote Alito, "but I am afraid that this admonition is not being heeded by our society."
Alito's comments come less than two years after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, also a member of the court's right-wing majority, signaled that the court should reconsider a number of rulings, including Obergefell and a case that guaranteed the right to contraception, following its overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Both Alito and Thomas dissented in Obergefell, arguing the ruling had no basis in the U.S. Constitution. In defense of a Kentucky clerk who refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples in 2020, the two justices said the decision must be overturned to protect Americans from Obergefell's "cavalier treatment of religion."
"Overturning Obergefell is on their bucket list," said journalist Annika Brockschmidt of the right-wing justices.
At Slate, journalist Mark Joseph Stern noted on Tuesday that Alito's "sudden concern with the striking of a juror due to bias is especially jarring in light of his persistent cold shoulder toward those who faced openly racist juries."
In 2022, the court's right-wing majority rejected an appeal from Kristopher Love, a Black man who was sentenced to death by a jury that included at least one member who believed people of some races "tend to be more violent than others."
"In theory, the equal protection clause bars racism in jury selection," wrote Stern. "In practice, this Supreme Court regularly declines to enforce this guarantee—most often, when a Black defendant faces the death penalty—with Alito's assent."
'Love Wins Again' as Greece Legalizes Same-Sex Marriage
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called the legalization—a first by a Christian Orthodox nation—"a milestone for human rights."
Greece on Thursday became the first Christian Orthodox, 16th European Union, and 37th overall nation to legalize same-sex marriage, a move one rights group called "a huge step forward for LGBTQ+ people" in the Balkan country.
Members of the Hellenic Parliament from across most of the political spectrum came together in a rare moment of consensus, defying opposition from the country's influential Orthodox Church and voting 176-76 with two abstentions to pass the landmark reform.
In addition to granting same-sex couples marriage rights, the measure also opens the door to adoptions and confers parental guardianship rights to both parents in same-sex partnerships.
"Greece is proud to become the 16th E.U. country to legislate marriage equality," Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greece's center-right prime minister, said on social media after the vote. Mitsotakis had promised to approve marriage equality legislation after his reelection last year.
"This is a milestone for human rights, reflecting today's Greece—a progressive, and democratic country, passionately committed to European values," he added, drawing some scornful replies highlighting the nation's treatment of asylum-seeking migrants.
During Thursday's parliamentary debate, Mitsotakis said that "people who have been invisible will finally be made visible around us, and with them, many children will finally find their rightful place."
Stella Belia, the head of same-sex parents' group Rainbow Families, toldReuters that Thursday's vote was a "historic moment" on a "day of joy."
"It makes life much, much easier for many people, and it protects children that have been living in a state of precariousness," Belia said in a separate interview with The New York Times.
Historian Nikos Nikolaidis said the vote marked "a very important step for human rights, a very important step for equality, and a very important step for Greek society."
Meanwhile, Archbishop Ieronymos, who heads the Greek Orthodox Church, said legalization will "corrupt the homeland's social cohesion," a position shared by the far-right Elliniki Lysi party.
Outside the Hellenic Parliament in Athens, proponents of marriage equality celebrated the vote.
"I'm very proud as a Greek citizen because Greece is actually—now—one of the most progressive countries," Ermina Papadima, a member of the Greek Transgender Support Association, told Reuters.
"I think the mindset is going to change," Papadima added. "We have to wait, but I think the laws are going to help with that."