Organisers collaborate on Bangkok Pride Festival 2024

The festival will be held under the concept of "Celebration of Love" from May 31 to June 4, 2024. This event is a huge step for Thailand to show its potential for hosting the InterPride World Conference 2025 and Bangkok WorldPride 2030, organisers said.

On June 1, there will be a parade featuring a 200-metre-long rainbow flag along Rama I Road from the National Stadium to the Ratchaprasong intersection. It will be the longest Pride flag in Thailand.

This event is an invitation to LGBTQIAN+ people around the world to visit Thailand as a destination for rainbow people to experience three main activities as follows.

• Bangkok Pride Parade 2024 under the concept "Celebration of Love" celebrates marriage equality with five main processions that highlight five definitions of love.
• Discussion stage at Bangkok Pride Forum for exchanging opinions and suggestions from civil society, government, and the private sector to push Thailand to be an equal and safe society for everyone.
• Drag Bangkok Festival 2024, held for the first time in Thailand and Asia with performances by drag artists from Thailand and abroad.

Waaddao Chumaporn, president and founder of Naruemit Pride and organiser of Bangkok Pride Festival 2024, said that over the past few years, people have made the Pride Parade an important event in the country.

"We want to go a little further this year, to tell the world that Thailand can organise world-class events, regardless of the global Pride network meeting in which more than 400 organisations gathered together. We aim that in 2030 we will be able to host a world-class event. We will expand the event from one day to five days to see what LGBTQIAN+ stories are all about," Waaddao said.

This year, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports will open the Nimibutr Building for all parade participants to put on makeup in an air-conditioned room. 

Importantly, the prime minister will also join the parade. There will be a live broadcast on Thai PBS of both the Celebration of Love parade and the Drag community on Saturday, June 1, and on all online channels from 2pm onwards.

Sanon Wangsrangboon, deputy governor of Bangkok, said: "Pride events are not just about having fun, they have a dimension of equality in many matters." 

The BMA announced the following:

• Civil servants working in Bangkok have the right to dress according to their gender. 
• Pride Clinics have expanded from more than 10 to 24 locations.
• 164 LGBTQ couples in 50 districts in Bangkok have been informed of their right to get married after the equal marriage law is passed..

"Bangkok Pride Parade 2024 is a celebration and promotion of diversity to show that everyone is equal. Bangkok is ready to support it becoming a reality. We will make Bangkok a livable city for everyone," Sanon said.

Sermsak Pongpanich, minister of tourism and sports, said the government does not see the LGBTQ community as a burden to anyone. Rather, it is a driving force that promotes Thailand's sustainable democracy.

“I believe that the Equal Marriage Act should be passed by the end of June. Gender diversity is not just a matter of rights. It is a matter of equal quality of life," Sermsak said.

Thapanee Kiatphaibool, governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand, said: "The event will boost Thailand's GDP enormously, as LGBTQIAN+ people spend four times more than non-LGBTQIAN+ people.

"By 2030, we will have seen 200 million LGBTQIAN+ people from around the world visit Thailand for our campaigns ‘Tourism for All’ and ‘Tourism for Pride Destination’.”