by APORNRATH PHOONPHONGPHIPHAT

BANGKOK -- Thailand's blossoming gay community is generating new business opportunities, including bars and cafes. The Tourism Authority of Thailand launched a campaign targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender visitors in 2018 that has involved roadshows in Asia, Europe and the U.S. Thailand hosts one of Asia's large communities of LGBT people, at an estimated 4.5 million in 2018, according to LGBT Capital.

But the country still has some way to go in terms of embracing the community.

In mid-December, the Bangkok Post reported that activist Ekkawat Pimsawan submitted a proposal to legalize same-sex marriage to the opposition Pheu Thai party in a bid to draw attention to the issue.

"We gain a partial acceptance from the society," Kittinan Tharamathat, president of the Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand, an LGBT rights group, told the Nikkei Asian Review. "In other words, we're allowed to have a certain place to convey our message, but actually we don't have rights to any legal protections," he said.

Kittinan has for years been at the forefront of fighting for LGBT legal rights in Thailand. He has pushed a civil partnerships bill to allow same-sex marriage since 2004, but it has yet to receive parliamentary approval. Lawmakers attribute the delay to the bureaucratic legislative process. Read more via Nikkea Asian Review