Bangkok Celebrates First Pride Parade in 16 Years
Thousands of members of Thailand’s LGBTQ+ community raised rainbow flags in the country’s first official Pride parade in Bangkok yesterday (Sunday, June 5, 2022) to celebrate Pride Month and support gender equality. It’s the first time the Pride event has been held in almost 16 years!
NGOs promoting LGBTQ+ rights organized the “Naruemit Pride 2022” event with the support of the recently confirmed Governor Chadchart Sittiput.
Paradegoers waved blue, pink, and white transgender flags as marchers made their way through the streets of Bangkok, knowing that there is still much more work to be done in the fight to secure legal LGBTQ+ rights for the Thai LGBTQ+ community.
Even though the country is welcoming to queer travelers, members of the largely visible LGBTQ+ community still face discrimination in the country’s conservative rural areas.
Thailand does not have marriage equality or a gender recognition law, which added more meaning to this long-awaited event. Several parade revelers chanted and called for same-sex marriage to be legalized and they also called for sex workers’ rights.
The LGBTQ+ community at the parade, and beyond, want two existing bills, waiting to go to parliament, to be passed. Approved by the cabinet in 2020, one bill would allow civil partnerships for LGBTQ+ couples. The bill would recognize same-sex unions and grant same-sex couples the same legal rights as married couples.
Pride participants were very appreciative of the government-backed Pride event, and they know it’s only the first step to a long road ahead. Drag queen Johnnie Phurikorn told AFP (Agence France-Presse), “I feel so glad and thankful to have this moment, but there is still more to do to support LGBTQ individuals in Thailand.”
And the Pride celebrations don’t end with just the parade this month. SO/ Bangkok is getting in on the action and hosting its own Drag Me to SO/ Glow Out Pride Party on June 18 as well as an art exhibition “Love Will Keep Us Together,” featuring the work of LGBTQ+ artist Chloe Kelly Miller, on June 28 – August 21, 2022.
