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Will Same-Sex Marriage in Thailand Be Legalized?

Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing same-sex marriage in Thailand. This is actually a topic that unfortunately I overlooked the last couple of weeks. 

There has been some major news with respect to this. Apparently there is a decision pending before the Thai Supreme Court on this issue that has been postponed repeatedly. There are a number of folks, I have had a lot of correspondence and I am aware of our LGBT viewer base and thank you very much for watching. They have kind of made it clear to me that "hey, you have kind of overlooked this in everything else and what is going on with this overall topic? Why is this being postponed?" I can't say exactly why it is being postponed, why a Supreme Court does anything; even in the US it is very opaque how the procedures of the Court operate and why they take certain cases and refuse cert. (certiorari) on certain cases.

In this situation I actually kind of think, now this is pure speculation on my part so take it for what it is, it is just me thinking of the top of my head, I actually think this may bode well for the possibility that we may see this actually come out positively in the sense that the Supreme Court may rule that "yeah same-sex marriage is legal in Thailand". The reason I take these postponements as a positive is because if that were to happen, remember Thailand is on a Civil Law system and it is a very unique Civil Law system. There is really no other country, in fact there is no other country that has a legal system exactly like Thailand. Before any of the lawyers out there say "Well, no jurisdiction is exactly like another, no, Thailand is very unique. They have their own version of the civil law it is how it has evolved here for them over the history of the country. That being said, the practical ramifications especially in an administrative context because remember, Thailand utilizes a civil registrar system to register marriages. If this were to come about, if the Supreme Court were to say "Yes, same-sex marriage is legal in Thailand" there would have to be a pretty substantial change to the regulatory structure pertaining to Civil Registration of marriages in Thailand at the various Amphurs or Khets which are the civil registrar offices in either the provinces or here in the metro area, here in Bangkok. It would be pretty profound and it would be pretty detailed. There would be a lot of change that would happen. So I surmise, again pure speculation on my part, but I surmise that perhaps the Supreme Court is postponing because things are being put in motion so that there is a smooth transition into a system which recognizes same-sex marriage.

Now I could be wrong on that, I could be totally wrong on that but this is just one man's opinion and in my opinion hopefully I am right for all the LGBT folks out there, I hope that this goes through and we have same-sex marriage in Thailand. In fact I think a lot of folks in policy circles and everything are inclined that way. That being stated, it remains to be seen so don't presume anything until we see a decision handed down. Hopefully we will see positive news sooner rather than later.