The state and civil sectors are gearing up to implement the Marriage Equality Bill, which is set to become law next month.
The bill was endorsed by His Majesty the King and published in the Royal Gazette on Sept 24, making Thailand the third country or territory in Asia, after Taiwan and Nepal, to recognise same-sex marriage.
The bill will become law 120 days after it was published in the Royal Gazette, which means same-sex couples will be able to start registering their marriages on Jan 22 next year.
Yesterday, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, along with the Social Development and Human Security, Interior, Justice, and Culture ministries and Bangkok Pride organisation, held an event called "Marriage Equality Day" to provide an update on Thailand's readiness to implement the Marriage Equality Bill.
Kannapong Pipatmontrikul, the director of the General Registration Office of the Interior Ministry, said that a committee had been formed to make adjustments to the marriage registration system to allow same-sex people to register their marriages at local district offices across Thailand.
He said that the committee has also amended the wording of some regulations to better reflect the spirit of the Marriage Equality Bill, such as replacing references to specific genders to "individuals", and switching out references to husbands and wives in favour of "married couples".
"We are waiting for the Interior Minister to approve the amendments," Mr Kannapong said.
Once approved, the registration system will be modified to reflect the changes, and a trial run will be organised to check the system's readiness, he said, before adding staff who are involved in marriage registrations will be retrained to improve their knowledge of the new law and system.
He said once the bill becomes law, same-sex couples can register their marriages at any district office across the country.
Those who want to register their marriage must be at least 18 years old, but parents' and/or guardians' consent will still be required if the applicants are younger than 20.
Kerdchoke Kasemwongjit, Justice Ministry's Inspector-General, said the ministry will review other bills to guarantee that same-sex couples have the same rights as heterosexual couples to establish a family, such as the surrogacy bill, nationalities bill and gender recognition bill.
