Paetongtarn hopes for success of equal marriage bill

She made the remark during a press conference at Siam Discovery shopping mall in Bangkok on Tuesday on the “The Celebration: Right to Love” campaign. 

The campaign, launched by luxury shopping mall operator Siam Piwat, aims to organise activities to mark this year’s Pride Month in Bangkok between May 31 and June 30.

She noted that Pheu Thai had promoted gender equality over the past 23 years since the government led by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The promotion had faced difficulties due to people’s resistance, she explained.

Paetongtarn said the party achieved success during the government led by incumbent PM Srettha Thavisin after the equal marriage bill passed the House of Representatives’ first reading in March this year.

She thanked people involved with this bill. She said she hopes Thailand will be the host country of WorldPride in 2030, which is the ultimate goal of gender-equality promotion.

“Today’s event is considered a good beginning to create awareness among foreigners,” she said.

Paetongtarn said she also hopes the draft gender recognition act will pass the House of Representatives’ consideration before WorldPride 2030. “However, promotion on eliminating gender discrimination and other related issues should be done together,” she said.

The draft act would allow people to change gender prefixes based on their gender identity.