AFTER YEARS of calls by sexual-diversity groups, a new law that would allow registered life partnership for same-sex couples is in the making – with supporters expecting it to be promulgated within the term of the present government.

For proponents, the long-awaited legislation is viewed as the first i-mportant step towards legal same-sex marriage in Thailand in the future.

Sexual diversity groups have long called for a law that guarantees partnerships between couples of the same sex, as the existing legislation only allows marriages between people of different sexes.

A Justice Ministry subcommittee charged with drafting the bill is scheduled to convene on May 4 before presenting the final draft, through the justice minister, to the Cabinet for approval, said a source at the ministry’s Rights and Liberties Protection Department (RLPD).

“The department aims to have this draft law promulgated within the term of this present government,” the source said.

In 2012, same-sex couples petitioned the Parliamentary Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights for a law to protect same-sex unions as gender-based discrimination was considered a violation of the Constitution.

Nareelak Phaechaiyaphum, the director of the RLPD’s Division of International Human Rights, said the bill encountered many issues. They included the different demands of various same-sex couple groups, religious beliefs against same-sex partnerships, and authorities’ tendency to cling to the male-female family structure, while some parts of Thai society still had a bias against same-sex companionship.

The latest version narrowed its focus to the asset management of same-sex life partners to avoid large-scale impacts and the need to amend multiple laws, she said.

People in same-sex relationships yesterday praised the proposed legislation as new hope that their lives could be made easier. However, some gender-equality advocates called for a more progressive law. Read more via Nation