Calls mount to amend LGBT bill
Calls have been made to amend a draft bill on civil partnerships for same-sex couples to allow them to gain financial benefits, adopt children and terminate their partnership registrations under certain conditions, according to the Justice Ministry.
The ministry said the draft bill has drawn favourable responses from most of the people who attended state-organised public hearings and those giving feedback online.
The public hearings of the bill were recently held in Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, Songkhla and Khon Kaen. The Justice Ministry’s Rights and Liberties Protection Department (RLPD) also allowed people to post their views about the bill on its website.
Nareeluck Phaechaiphum, director of the RLPD’s International Human Rights Division, said the bill would be forwarded to Justice Minister Prajin Juntong for consideration by the end of this month.
ACM Prajin is expected to submit the bill to the cabinet for consideration next month, she said.
According to Ms Nareeluck, most of the bill’s respondents threw their support behind the legislation, though they also asked to make some changes.
A key issue is that they want to have the Civil and Commercial Code amended in compliance with the bill for the greater financial benefit of both partners, she said.
Also, the respondents demanded legal rights to adopt children, as well as the unilateral rights by either party to terminate their partnership registrations in the event that either one suffers a severe communicable disease or can no longer have sex.
According to the bill, a same sex spouse has the right to possess the assets and property of their partner in the event of the latter’s death.
They also have the right to tax reductions and welfare benefits, including medical treatment. But they do not have the right to use their spouse’s surname.
The RLPD is in the process of compiling all recommendations so as to fine-tune the bill, Ms Nareeluck said.
According to her, tense public hearings in the South favoured Muslim LGBT members being banned from entering into civil unions between people of the same sex, which they argued goes against religious teaching.
The RLPD wrapped up its gleaning of public opinion on its website on Tuesday and it was found that 3,055 people in the LGBT community joined the online forum, she said.
Most respondents are in favour of the bill, Ms Nareeluck said, adding the cabinet and the National Legislative Assembly are expected to debate the legislation by next month.
Law professor Vitit Muntarbhorn said the provisions of the bill — which needs approval from the assembly before it can become law — were “modest”.
“It is an initial stepping stone towards what LGBT people really want — a change in the law to allow for marriage rights,” said Mr Vitit, a former UN independent expert on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Wannapong Yodmuang, an activist with the Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand, an advocacy group, said the association is not happy with the bill as it is as it does not go far enough and give them the right to be or to raise a family.