According to Thai PM frontrunner attends Pride parade, promising same-sex marriage, gender identity rights | Inquirer News, with a pledge to propose a legislation allowing same-sex marriage and gender identity rights if elected premier, the front-runner to become Thailand's next prime minister joined a Pride march in Bangkok on Sunday.
In the second official Pride parade to be organized in the nation, thousands of LGBTQ+ individuals, their allies, and government figures marched through the heart of Bangkok to celebrate Pride month and promote gender equality.
Participants in the march held rainbow flags and carried signs reading "love is love" and "freedom to choose gender" in rainbow hues. More than 50,000 individuals, or more than twice as many as at the previous year's event, participated in this year's Pride march, according to Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt.
Pita Limjaroenrat, the leader of the progressive Move Forward party, joined the political figures marching in the parade. Move Forward won the most seats in the general election held on May 14 in which voters made it clear they wanted to end the nearly ten years of rule by the military-backed governments.
Reporters were informed by Limjaroenrat during the parade that the government will support the Welfare Act as well as the Marriage Equality Act and the Gender Identity Act whenever it was established. According to him, these three items will turn Pride Month's celebration of diversity into an ongoing event.
Eight political parties made up the coalition, which has vowed to enact laws to guarantee equal rights for all couples, regardless of gender, including the Marriage Equality Act after the passage of the draft law and related legislations were stalled in parliament under the previous administration.
Although Thailand boasts one of Asia's most prominent and outspoken LGBT groups, many political activists claim that the country's laws and traditional institutions continue to discriminate against LGBT persons and same-sex couples.
