Thailand’s Marriage Equality Bill with Activist Kyoka Shodladd

When we speak in late May, Kyoka Shodladd has a lot going on. It’s the run up to Bangkok Pride, as well as being a few weeks out from the deliberation of the Thai government on the Marriage Equality Bill, of which Kyoka sat on the select committee. It’s also not long until their high school graduation so studying and exams are high on the to-do list. Speaking from a bright room at their high school, Kyoka fills me in on how they came to be part of the Marriage Equality Bill movement: 

“A couple of years ago I started off as an environmentalist so I talked about climate justice and all those kinds of things, but later on I started to shift my focus towards gender and the LGBTQ+ community. So that's what I do right now: I am a part of the Bangkok Pride team, I work and I study and I'm an author with two published books. I published my first book when I was 17 and the second book a couple of months ago. I've also been a TEDx speaker at TEDx Bangkok Youth and part of the Marriage Equality Bill Select Committee.”

For Kyoka and their colleagues, the Marriage Equality Bill has been a long process. On the 27th March 2024, the House of Representatives, Thailand’s parliament’s lower house, passed the same-sex marriage bill. Just under three months later, on the 18th June, the Senate (the upper house) passed the law, which grants LGBTQ+ couples equal rights in relation to marriage, adoption, healthcare, inheritance and more. There is one final step, in which the Thai King must pass the bill, for it to come into effect. This is likely to take place around October 2024. But it was long before March that Kyoka began working on the bill, saying they had probably been working on it seriously for around 18 months prior to the lower house meeting.

There were 39 people in the committee for the lower house which included politicians, government workers and representatives of the Civil Society (of which Kyoka was a part, alongside other members of the Bangkok Pride team). Kyoka is the youngest in both the group and the committee at just 18. As well as campaigning for marriage equality, they’ve also been campaigning for gender recognition for the gender recognition bill and to decriminalize sex work. I asked them to explain the key points of the bill:

“So in Thai civil and commercial law - the current one and not the one that we’ve amended - it says when a man and woman reach the age of 17 they're able to legally get married. It's ‘men’ and ‘women’ and also ‘17’, but we were able to change this to gender-neutral terms, so it'll be ‘person’ to ‘person’. And then the other matter is the age. It was 17 but if someone is 17 under the law, they’re still a minor. So it was more than same-sex marriage. We didn’t put any gender into it and also alongside this we are protecting child rights as well. I think that one was a huge milestone. The other thing was bringing parental rights into the conversation. Although we weren't successful in changing the parental section from a ‘mother’ and ‘father’ to ‘parent’ and ‘parent’, we were able to start conversations around it and started to make Thai Society aware that family is not just about having a mom and a dad; it's not always about the blood connection and family does not come in one size fits all mould.”

Initially the bill - the people’s draft - was signed by around 20 people and submitted to parliament. Once parliament approved the draft, the committee had to collect 10,000 more signatures to be able to officially submit the bill to parliament for it to go under debate. Then representatives from the Civil Society Network went into the upper house and presented and debated the bill. On the day there were four marriage equality bills in total that were up for debate - one from the cabinet, one from the Move Forward party, one from the Democrat Party and then the People's Draft. It was all passed in the first reading and then it was time for the select committee, which took place over over 60 days.

Kyoka credits the quick pace of the marriage equality movement to the support from the pro democracy youth movement which started in Thailand in 2020. In the movement, there were many conversations taking place around democracy, politics, equality and LGBTQIAN+ matters. In recent years things have changed quickly in Thailand and the way people perceive the queer community has also changed.

you keep promoting [Thailand] as a queer friendly place, but then at the end of the day, [we] don't have marriage equality

I asked Kyoka about Taiwan and how its recent success with the marriage equality bill had influenced Thailand’s campaigning: 

“I would say that when there was already a blueprint for us to see and follow along it really did open a lot of conversations for Thailand and people would say: ‘If Taiwan has this then why isn’t Thailand at that stage yet, even though Thailand is known as a gay paradise or a queer friendly haven?’. So I think seeing that, people were like we need to do something - you keep promoting us as a queer friendly place, but then at the end of the day, you don't have marriage equality, you don't have gender recognition. So I think it did help with starting conversations and even within the Committee itself there were a lot of conversations around Taiwan and Nepal being the first two Asian countries to have marriage equality. I think I would say the difference would be in how they implemented the law. So, for Taiwan, they've taken several different approaches to marriage equality. They had a referendum, they went with the legislation route and they also had a litigation. So they had three different cases around it and it was a really long process which ended in them creating a new section in their law. But for Thailand we are directly going in and amending the Civil and Commercial Code.”

Understanding how laws are passed and the structure of one’s government is a complicated process. Even for Kyoka, who sat on the select committee, they said it wasn’t an easy thing: “I honestly didn't have a clear understanding of how all these bills were passed. Even though I watched a lot of parliamentary debate videos it wasn't clear for me. There was no transparency to the process. But then, when I sat in on the committee, I was like, oh ok, it actually takes this long - over 60 days - and we have to consider so many things, so you have to be ready to commit to something that's really big.” They said the key is to have a good network of supporters, activists and people who are ready to work. Having a cause you believe in and knowing that you’re making history is definitely going to fuel the campaigning. Finally, having people inside Parliament that will support you and back you up will help things move faster, whether it’s the government or the opposition party.

the key is to have a good network of supporters, activists and people who are ready to work.

Our conversation then moves on to Kyoka’s involvement with Bangkok Pride. They first knew of the other organisers through social media and joined them for some pro democracy protests in 2021. Kyoka joined the team officially in 2022, the year of the first official Pride in Thailand. There had been some Pride events before but these had always been unofficial, happening underground. Kyoka’s first roles were easy (in their words); translating documents for embassies and social media posts and supporting events. But as they turned 18 last year, they took a step up, and currently work as the Youth Advocacy and Global Outreach representative where they coordinate with embassies, work with international agencies and organisations and also do things related to youth - because they’re still a youth! Kyoka also represents Bangkok Pride on the international stage. In 2023 they travelled alone to attend the InterPride conference in San Diego, a space where more than 500 Pride organisers gathered!

Bangkok Pride 2024 took place just after our conversation. Themed ‘Celebration of Love’, the festival took place over five days, instead of the usual one, and saw the first ever Drag Festival in Thailand, as well as forums on topics around human rights, education, economics, business and wellness. Kyoka was particularly excited that the Prime Minister had accepted their invitation to be part of the first procession of the parade: “I think one of the biggest differences we have - and showcasing the progress that we have made so far - is that we are expecting the Prime Minister to be on our parade together with the first procession since it's called ‘love wins’ to celebrate marriage equality. He is a pretty big supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and I think having such a leader that is excited to join and advocate for our community is a huge change for Thailand.”

Kyoka’s focus in the coming years will be the ‘Road to Bangkok World Pride’ campaign, where Bangkok hopes to host the World Pride in 2030. It’s an exciting journey ahead and when I asked Kyoka for their feelings, they were positive. I asked for three words on the future of LGBTQ+ rights in Thailand and equality in general…

“I think the first one would be space. I think our community will definitely have much more space. Starting from Thailand, as we advocate not just for marriage equality but the two other bills that we’re working on as well, it will create a lot of space and we will help us be more visible and seen by society and accepted. I think that's one: having space. Something that the community never really had but having that now is just amazing. The second would probably be gateway. I believe that once the marriage equality bill officially passes and the enactment happens, Thailand will definitely be that Gateway for our neighbouring countries, for Asia, and for other countries worldwide to open doors for people from the LGBTQ+ community. Whether it's Indonesia or Malaysia or our neighbouring countries, it is so much more dangerous to be queer. So I think we will be able to provide space for them and create a safe gateway for them to come through and feel accepted. Then the third one, I would say, would probably be shift. There will definitely be a big shift in the economy with marriage equality: the way people will be included in the economy, whether it's social welfare, social benefits or tourism. Another thing that will shift is the perspective of the people because, once the marriage equality bill passes, even if people don't accept it, the norm will change from heterosexuality being the norm right now. I think one day, things will start to not be gendered in the same way and I also think the system in the country, whether it's politics or education, things will definitely start to shake and change because having thirteen people representing Civil Society sitting inside the parliament was already a big shift for the Thai Parliament and for the government. It was a really big shift and it really deconstructed their mindset and understanding of the world.”

With people like Kyoka leading the way, the future of equality certainly looks bright in Thailand!