Will Thailand Be # 15?

France, a couple of weeks ago, quickly followed New Zealand to become the 14th country in the world to pass a marriage equality act, or gay marriage act, or whatever you want to call it.  It’s now a race to see who will be next.

Contrary to most guesses, including mine, a bill may soon be put before the Thai Parliament which looks a little like marriage equality without some of the rights, including especially the right to adopt children.  I am sure that land inheritance will be restricted and controlled, too (this is Thailand, after all).  The devil, as the saying goes, is in the fine print, and the fine print hasn’t been made final yet.  So we will just have to wait to see if the headlines give us marriage equality which is whittled down to nothing in the paragraphs underneath the title at the top of the law.

Meanwhile, let’s see if we can say what we would really want here in the Land of Smiles.  Here is my list but I’d be happy to hear if I have missed anything important.

1. Decriminalization of gay sex making it equivalent to the laws regulating straight sex.  That is, pretty much “consensual sex” by all persons “of age”.  
   
   
2. The right to declare one’s own gender designation and/or to have it removed from all legal documents such as ID cards and passports (without the need to display any physical profile).
   
   
3. The right to have marriages recorded and legally recognized, as heterosexual couples have.
   
   
4. The right to joint ownership of personal property and real estate.
   
   
5. Protections of agreements against challenges by kinfolks, on the same basis as other couples.
   
   
6. Recognition of the spousal relationship with regard to health and retirement benefits.
   
   
7. The right to bear, adopt and claim children as parents.
   
   

Most of the first countries to pass marriage equality laws have simply removed sex and gender designations, thus eliminating gender as a qualifying element.  That would be a best-case scenario for Thailand, too.