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Hundreds Wed As Thai Same-sex Marriage Law Comes Into Force

Published

10 months ago

January 23, 2025

Editor

Scores of same-sex and transgender couples married in Thailand on Thursday as the kingdom’s equal marriage law went into effect, with two high-profile gay actors among the first to do so.

In matching beige suits, Apiwat “Porsch” Apiwatsayree, 49 — who was in tears — and Sappanyoo “Arm” Panatkool, 38, were handed their pink-bordered marriage certificates at a registry office in Bangkok.

“We fought for it for decades and today is a remarkable day that love is love,” said Army.

The milestone sees Thailand become by far the biggest nation in Asia to recognise equal marriage, after Taiwan and Nepal.

“Today, the rainbow flag is proudly flying over Thailand,” Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra posted on X.

The new marriage law uses gender-neutral terms in place of “men”, “women”, “husbands” and “wives”, also clearing the way for transgender people to wed, and grants adoption and inheritance rights to all married couples.

Lesbian couple Sumalee Sudsaynet, 64, and Thanaphon Chokhongsung, 59, were the first to wed at Bangrak district office, and the couple showed the media their engagement rings.

“We are so happy. We’ve been waiting for this day for 10 years,” said Thanaphon, wearing a white gown.

The couple met a decade ago through a mutual friend and bonded over their passion for Buddhism and merit-making.

“The legalisation of same-sex marriage uplifts our dignity,” Sumalee told AFP.

“It allows us to enjoy the same rights as heterosexual couples. My emotions today are so overwhelming, I can’t even put them into words.”

Dozens of couples dressed in traditional and contemporary wedding outfits trickled into a large hall in a shopping centre for a mass LGBTQ wedding organised by campaign group Bangkok Pride with city authorities.

Officials helped the couples fill out marriage forms at rows of tables, an administrative step before they could collect their certificates, with hundreds expected to do so over the course of the day.

Kevin Pehthai Thanomkhet, a 31-year-old trans man, married his wife, Maple Nathnicha Klintgaworn, 39.

“So happy, like, oh my god… my heart is beating,” said Kevin.

His 65-year-old father Phornchai added: “I have always accepted (him). Whatsoever, it is OK with me.”

– Reputation for tolerance –

Thailand ranks highly on indexes of LGBTQ legal and living conditions, and Thursday’s milestone makes it the first country in Southeast Asia to allow equal marriage.

The kingdom’s same-sex marriage bill was passed in a historic parliamentary vote last June, the third place in Asia to do so, and the law came into effect 120 days after it was ratified by King Maha Vajiralongkorn.

Thai activists have been pushing for same-sex marriage rights for more than a decade, with their advocacy stalled by political turbulence in a country regularly upended by coups and mass street protests.

Former Thai prime minister Srettha Thavisin, who attended Wednesday’s mass wedding event, took an apparent swipe at newly inaugurated US President Donald Trump, who on Monday decreed there were only two genders.

“Recently a country’s leader said that there were only two genders, but I think we are more open-minded than that.”

More than 30 countries have legalised marriage for all since the Netherlands became the first to allow same-sex unions in 2001.

Thailand has long had an international reputation for tolerance of the LGBTQ community, and opinion polls reported in local media have shown overwhelming public support for equal marriage.

But much of the Buddhist-majority kingdom retains traditional and conservative values and LGBTQ people say they still face barriers and discrimination in everyday life.

“In the past, LGBTQ people were seen as monstrosities,” said Ploynaplus Chirasukon, who married her lesbian partner of 17 years, Kwanporn Kongpetch.

She supports the push for gender identity recognition, including the right to change forms of address.

“People who don’t identify with their biological sex are like homeless people,” she said.

“The ability to be able to change our titles would allow for true equality.”

AFP

Headline

FULL LIST: US To Review Green Cards From 19 ‘Countries Of Concern’ After Washington Shooting

Published

7 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it will review the immigration status of all permanent residents, or “Green Card” holders, from Afghanistan and 18 other countries following the attack on National Guard troops in Washington, D.C.

U.S. officials identified the suspect in Wednesday’s shooting as a 29-year-old Afghan national who previously worked alongside American forces in Afghanistan.

The individual was granted asylum earlier this year, not permanent residency, according to AfghanEvac, an organisation that assists Afghans resettled in the United States after the Taliban takeover in 2021.

“I have directed a full-scale, rigorous reexamination of every Green Card for every alien from every country of concern,” said Joseph Edlow, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), on X.

The review follows a June executive order from President Trump classifying 19 countries as “of Identified Concern.”

The order banned entry for nearly all nationals from 12 countries, including Afghanistan. The full list of these countries is:

Afghanistan

Myanmar

Chad

Congo-Brazzaville

Equatorial Guinea

Eritrea

Haiti

Iran

Libya

Somalia

Sudan

Yemen

A partial travel ban applies to seven additional countries, though some temporary work visas remain allowed: Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan, and Venezuela.

Headline

Romanian Defence Minister Quits After Admitting Error In Academic Record

Published

8 hours ago

November 29, 2025

Editor

Romania’s defence minister resigned on Friday after saying he made a “mistake” on his CV about his university education, as controversy swirled over alleged lies on his resume.

Ionut Mosteanu – who has admitted to writing on his CV that he graduated from a university he never attended – said he did not want the row “to distract” the NATO member at a time when it and Europe are “under attack from Russia”.

Romania has repeatedly seen drone fragments fall on its soil since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, and reported a number of drone incursions.

On Tuesday, a drone crashed in eastern Romania, which borders Ukraine.

Romania has also accused Moscow of “hybrid attacks”, including meddling in presidential elections last year that were subsequently annulled.

“Today, I resigned from my position as minister of national defence,” Mosteanu said in a Facebook post, adding he wanted the country to be focused on its “difficult mission”.

“Romania and Europe are under attack from Russia. Our national security must be defended at all costs,” he added.

Mosteanu had come under pressure after a media investigation published on Thursday revealed that he wrote in a CV that he graduated from a university which he did not actually attend.

That same day he apologised for what he called “a mistake”.

“In a CV I quickly put together in 2016 using a template I found online, there is a mistake that I admit embarrasses me. I didn’t pay much attention to these details at the time,” he said on Facebook.

Mosteanu was appointed defence minister in June of this year, when a new pro-European government was formed after months of political turmoil.

Prime Minister Ilie Bolojan said in a press release that he would propose economy and tourism minister Radu Miruta take over the defence portfolio in the interim.

AFP

Headline

Russia Insists Ukraine Must Cede Land Or Face Continued Military Push

Published

2 days ago

November 27, 2025

Editor

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that he would end his Ukraine offensive if Kyiv withdrew from territory Moscow claims at its own — otherwise his army would take it by force.

The Russian army has been slowly but steadily grinding through eastern Ukraine in costly battles against outnumbered and outgunned Ukrainian forces.

Washington has meanwhile renewed its push to end the nearly four-year war, putting forward a surprise plan that it hopes to finalise through upcoming talks with Moscow and Kyiv.

“If Ukrainian forces leave the territories they hold, then we will stop combat operations,” Putin said during a visit to Kyrgyzstan. “If they don’t, then we will achieve it by military means.”

Russia controls around one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory. The issue of occupied land, which Kyiv has said it will never cede, is among the biggest stumbling blocks in the peace process.

Another important issue in the talks are Western security guarantees for Ukraine, which Kyiv says are needed to prevent Moscow from invading again in the future.

Washington’s original plan — drafted without input from Ukraine’s European allies — would have seen Kyiv withdraw from its eastern Donetsk region and the United States de facto recognise the Donetsk, Crimea and Lugansk regions as Russian.

The US pared back the original plan over the weekend following criticism from Kyiv and Europe, but has not yet released the new version.

Putin, who has seen the new plan, said it could be a negotiation starter.

“Overall, we agree that it could form the basis for future agreements,” he said of the latest draft, which the US is thought to have shortened to about 20 points.

US negotiator Steve Witkoff was expected in Moscow next week to discuss the revised document, Putin said.

US Army Secretary Dan Driscoll is meanwhile due to visit Kyiv later this week, Ukraine’s top presidential aide Andriy Yermak said.

– ‘Little can be done’ –

In his remarks Thursday, Putin repeated the claim that Russia had encircled the Ukrainian army in Pokrovsk and Myrnograd in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region — the most fiercely embattled area and a key target for Moscow’s forces.

“Krasnoarmeysk and Dimitrov are completely surrounded,” he said, using the Russian names for the cities.

Moscow was also advancing in Vovchansk and Siversk, as well as approaching the important logistic hub of Guliaipole, he added.

The Russian offensive “is practically impossible to hold back, so there is little that can be done about it”, Putin said.

Ukraine has denied Pokrovsk and Myrnograd are encircled, insisting its forces continue to hold the enemy along the front line.

Putin also questioned Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s legitimacy and said signing any agreement with him would be legally “almost impossible” at the moment, a suggestion that has drawn groans from Kyiv and its allies.

According to data analysed by AFP from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian forces have conquered an average of 467 square kilometres (180 square miles) each month in 2025 — a step up from 2024.

Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the worst armed conflict in Europe since World War II.

The war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced millions to flee their homes.