Civil partnership bill - close to becoming Thai law

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Civil partnership bill - close to becoming Thai law

Post by Gaybutton »

Cabinet endorses civil partnership bill

by Chatrudee Theparat

December 26, 2018

The cabinet has approved the civil partnership bill, paving the way for Thailand to become the first country in Asia to endorse same-sex marriage.

In the current version of the bill, same-sex couples may adopt children, Nathporn Chatusripitak, an adviser to the Minister to Prime Minister's Office, said on Tuesday.

They must be at least 20 years old and one of them must have Thai nationality. The union ends by death, voluntary separation or court order.

In terms of assets and estate, the Civil and Commercial Code will apply mutatis mutandis, making the union very similar to that of heterosexual couples.

"The differences lie in entitlements to some forms of state welfare. For example, the welfare for government officials covers their spouses.

Another difference is personal income tax deductions," he said.

The issue of children is not in the bill but is already covered in the child adoption law.

"The union means they can legitimately adopt a child," he said.

The bill will next go to the National Legislative Assembly (NLA). If it is passed, it will be announced in the Royal Gazette and will take effect 120 days later.

It is uncertain the bill will be passed during the term of the NLA, which will stop working on Feb 15, seven days before the general election, if it is held on Feb 24. It already has a backlog of 50 bills to be deliberated by priority.

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/genera ... rship-bill
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Re: Civil partnership bill - close to becoming Thai law

Post by Maple »

Thailand Cabinet backs civil partnerships bill

Washington Blade: December 26, 2018 | by Michael K. Lavers

Thailand’s Cabinet has backed a bill that would allow same-sex couples to enter into civil partnerships.

The Bangkok Post on Tuesday reported an advisor to Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s office said the measure would allow same-sex couples to adopt children and receive many of the same rights and privileges that heterosexuals receive through marriage. The newspaper said the bill will now go before Thailand’s National Legislative Assembly, where passage is not guaranteed.

A referendum on whether same-sex couples should receive marriage rights in Taiwan failed last month by a wide margin.

Michael K. Lavers is the international news editor of the Washington Blade

https://www.washingtonblade.com/2018/12 ... hips-bill/
fountainhall

Re: Civil partnership bill - close to becoming Thai law

Post by fountainhall »

Washington Blade wrote:A referendum on whether same-sex couples should receive marriage rights in Taiwan failed last month by a wide margin
This is only partly correct, as I have pointed out in a Taiwan thread. When campaigning, the President elected 2 1/2 years ago stood on the platform of gay marriage. After the election she dragged her feet. Then in the summer last year the Supreme Court ruled that the government had to introduce gay marriage within two years. The decision has therefore been made. The problem is whether the government merely amend the existing marriage laws in the Civil Code (which is what the LGBT community want) or introduce a separate bill (which the LGBT community do not want since there is no guarantee that it will cover all the rights provided in the existing marriage bill).

Since that Court ruling, opposition has been fueled on the island largely by the Christian community. Which is patently ridiculous since Christians make up only 4.5% of the total population. The issue has also become highly politicised with the Kuomintang opposition sensing an opportunity to beat down the President. The government tried to wriggle out of the issue by having a referendum back the change to existing marriage laws. Had a separate Brexit-type referendum been held related merely to that one issue, the chances are strong it would have been approved by a wide margin. All polls, including one run over three months by the Department of Justice, have indicated wide support island-wide for such a move.

However, stung by the criticism spreading from the Christians, the Opposition and their expanding coalition, the government again got cold feet and tagged the question of gay marriage amongst a number of other questions in a regular mid-term election for local authority officials. This guaranteed a big turnout. Given that the Christian coalition outspent the LGBT community supporters by 10 to 1 (e.g. with large blocks of TV advertisements containing outright lies), the result of that referendum question was rarely in doubt. As a result, the President informed her Party she will resign. She brought the entire debacle on herself.

Still, a government spokesman has confirmed that the Referendum result does not in any way overturn the Supreme Court ruling. It merely ensures that the Civil Code will not be changed. So a separate bill covering gay marriage will be introduced. Justice Minister Tsai Ching-hsiang announced on December 5 -
"same-sex marriage should be guaranteed by a special law, and the bill will be sent to the legislature before [the Supreme Court deadline of] May 24 next year."
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/3590868
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Re: Civil partnership bill - close to becoming Thai law

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Equal marriage rights ‘still a dream’




January 02, 2019

By Pratch Rujivanarom

THE NATION

It is not a 100 per cent certain that the Life Partnership Bill will become law this year and even if it does pass the legislation process and is finally enforced, there is no guarantee that it will give equal marriage rights for same-sex couples.

The dream of gender diverse people in Thailand to marry their loved ones and get the same benefits and rights as straight couples is still far from becoming reality, even though the Cabinet had on Christmas Day announced that it would recognise legal partnership between same-sex persons.

Natakamon Siwasilp, legal adviser to the Togetherness for Equality and Action (TEA) Group, said that even though the government had agreed to recognise same-sex marriage, LGBTQI couples will not get the same rights as their heterosexual counterparts. Also, this law itself is problematic, she said.

“The biggest problem with this bill is its vagueness. As we can see in the latest draft, the drafters of this law do not truly understand marriage equality. Also, the draft itself is problematic as some articles are duplicated and the language is unclear,” Natakamon said.

“Some articles are written as if to say, ‘hey, we have already complied with your demands’, by listing the rights that we are entitled to. But the language of this bill does not guarantee that the rights mentioned in the list will be implemented in reality.”

As of now, the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) is set to consider and revise each article of the bill. However, she warned this bill will not enter the legislative process easily due to its poorly written language and ambiguity.

“Owing to these problems, we truly don’t know when this bill will finally be approved or what it will look like after it is passed. We don’t know what marriage rights we will have,” she said. “So, we would like to urge the government to be clear in its policy on same-sex marriage. We want them to clear the ambiguity.”

She also said the government’s proclamation that this bill has already passed Cabinet consideration can mislead the public, as not everybody has an understanding of the law-making process, nor do they realise that the Cabinet has only approved specific principles of this bill, not every detail of it.

“News that the government has approved the Life Partnership Bill will make people think that members of the LGBTQI group have the same rights as straight couples,” she said.

“The next time activists come out to campaign for equal rights, many people will argue that the government has already granted us these rights in the Life Partnership Bill.”

Meanwhile, NLA member Panu Uthairat disclosed to The Nation that the Life Partnership Bill has not been submitted to the NLA for consideration yet. “I want to assure you that no such bill has been passed on to NLA, so our Muslim and Christian friends can be relieved.”

He added that issue of same-sex marriage is still very controversial, so the Life Partnership Bill should be considered cautiously.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/ ... l/30361448
fountainhall

Re: Civil partnership bill - close to becoming Thai law

Post by fountainhall »

That’s a lot of unknowns! Add to them the fact that a new government is likely to
be in place when the bill starts to be considered seriously. And who knows what those parliamentarians will think on the subject?
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Re: Civil partnership bill - close to becoming Thai law

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Civil Partnership Bill now open for public comment

January 08, 2019

By The Nation

Members of the public can comment on the Civil Partnership Bill on the Council of State’s website until January 23, according to a Facebook post by the agency.

The comments will be gathered for consideration before the council submits the bill to the National Legislative Assembly.

If passed by the legislators, the law will make Thailand the first country in Asia to recognise same-sex unions.

Though the bill is supported by many, it has also been criticised by LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) groups for being “insufficient” as it does not recognise their rights to adopt a child, receive a spouse’s public and private welfare benefits, or receive a deduction from taxes for couples.

Comments must be submitted to this link: http://www.krisdika.go.th

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/ ... l/30361801
fountainhall

Re: Civil partnership bill - close to becoming Thai law

Post by fountainhall »

I have no experience of "consultation processes" in Thailand. If Hong Kong is anything to go by, they are a total waste of time. They are a means of letting a government off the hook, for there is no way to verify the accuracy of the totality of the comments. Governments privately dismiss them as an irrelevant inconvenience.

For decades, the Hong Kong government determined that the 90%+ Chinese population was too conservative and would not accept a change of the 19th century British sodomy laws. More than once it claimed this was a result of public opinion resulting from "consultation". When the law was finally abolished in 1991, there was little or no complaint whatever from the Chinese community.

"Public consultation" also led to the age of consent for males being 21 whilst those for females remained at 16. It took a judgement from the Court of Final Appeal in 2006 to decree that this was discriminatory and the age of consent for males was also reduced to 16. Again there was little public objection.

There's another reason why these "consultations" are a total waste of time. They tend to attract those with strong views on the subject. The vast majority who are really not concerned one way or another normally fail to respond.
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