First Country in Southeast Asia to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage

By Jennifer John

Thailand is becoming Southeast Asia’s first country to legally allow same-sex marriage, with the first marriages being registered on January 22, 2025. Their House of Representatives passed the same-sex marriage bill on March 27, 2024, with an overwhelming majority voting in favor of it. The Senate passed it on June 18, 2024, and on September 24, 2024, the king signed it into law. 

The Marriage Equality Bill grants same-sex couples equal rights to heterosexual couples in relation to marriage, child adoption, access to IVF, healthcare consent, and inheritance, among other things.

A government survey in Thailand in 2013 found that only 40% of Thais supported same-sex marriage. A survey after the Marriage Equality Bill passed showed 64% had positive reactions to it. What caused such an increase in only a decade? Besides political activism, many credit the “soft power” of their entertainment industry.

Thailand has become famous world-wide for their LGBTQ+ television shows. In Asia, the shows with a same-sex male lead couple are called BL (for boys’ love) and the ones with a same-sex female lead couple are called GL (for girls’ love). Many BL and GL shows from various Asian countries are available on YouTube for free. More can be found on Asian streaming apps that are also available in the US. The first BL in Thailand was broadcast in 2014 and the number available has grown exponentially since then, especially since the pandemic. An article published a few days ago said there are over 340 Thai BL’s and films that have been produced.

These series had a significant impact on the push for marriage equality in Thailand by normalizing same-sex relationships through popular media, sparking conversations about LGBTQ+ rights, and increasing visibility of the community, which ultimately contributed to a more accepting attitude towards same-sex marriage, leading to it’s eventual legalization in the country. These dramas essentially acted as a catalyst for broader social change by depicting loving same-sex relationships on mainstream television.

GMM-TV is one of the largest production companies. They have produced over 60 BL/GL series and their last several shows are available with subtitles in 19 languages. Thai shows from GMM-TV won the ContentAsia award for the past 4 years for “the best LGBTQ+ programme made in Asia.”

Besides countries in Asia consuming this content, it has traveled all around the world. Within the last few years, many Thai actors have gone to Europe for fan meetings and in 2024 some of the actors traveled to Los Angeles, Mexico, and Brazil as the first Thai BL fan meetings came to the Americas. 

Over the last three years, since I stumbled upon these shows on YouTube, I watched 70 series in full. (They usually consist of 12 episodes that are about 45 minutes long.)  When I heard the Marriage Equality Bill had passed, I was very excited and happy for them because I had seen the social progression in the shows over the last few years and I wanted to make a short compilation video with some key scenes regarding this. I had over a dozen clips in my mind at first, but kept narrowing them down until I had just 5 and put them in a 4 1⁄2 minute YouTube video. Enjoy!

Marriage Equality Thailand 2025

For anyone who may be interested in watching either of the shows that won the Content Asia awards in the last two years, here are links to the trailers:

• 2023-Moonlight Chicken (rated 15+) 8 episodes, includes a side character who is deaf
  
• 2024-Last Twilight (rated 13+) 12 episodes, includes a main character who is going blind.