Pad thai, tom yum and green curry are all Thai recipes that we know and love. But Thailand’s most notable recipe has gone unnoticed: Its formula for success in progressive politics. Just last year, Thailand legalized same-sex marriage in a triumphant victory, a historic first for Southeast Asia. This move marked a significant step forward for gay rights and progressive politics in the region. Meanwhile, the United States has begun regressing in LBGTQ+ rights. We should use this moment to take a page from the Thai roadmap to success.
Our current political landscape shows a grim future for the queer community. “Don’t Say Gay” laws, bans on transgender people in sports and a push to revisit Obergefell v. Hodges all point to a changing culture of attitudes across the United States. This is a very different environment from the jubilant and hopeful atmosphere Americans felt when same-sex marriage was legalized in 2015. It is quite embarrassing that the self-proclaimed “land of the free” is losing a battle of civil liberties against the historically conservative country of Thailand. Their successes and our failures begs the question: What can we learn from the Thai on promoting LGBTQ+ rights?
Let us first walk through a brief history of the last 10 years in Thailand. In 2014, the country experienced a military coup that dismantled the civil government for the next five years, during which the junta aligned itself ideologically with royalist-conservative groups. Around this time, there was fledgling support for LGBTQ+ issues and opposition to social discrimination against those in the community. In 2019, just six years ago, progressive parties gained surprising momentum and won an overwhelming majority of parliamentary seats in their most recent elections. Now, Thailand has overwhelming support for same-sex marriage and LGBTQ+ issues.
This represents quite a drastic change in just 10 years. The shocking shift in national politics from conservatism to progressivism demonstrates the Thai people’s increasing investment in their own civil liberties. Protests in 2020 showcased the public’s newfound advocacy for democracy and human values. Beyond that, Thai activists employed a number of techniques over the past 10 years that swayed public opinion.
One of the most influential of these campaigns is boys love media. Boys love is a genre that represents a positive and extremely romanticized story of same-sex love. Their influence on Thai culture between 2014 and the present is astounding. Studies have shown the genre’s positive effect on reducing the stigma around the gay community, with one activist describing how they worked over the past decade promoting positive media to shift perceptions of the gay community.
Other than raunchy, romantic shows, Thai activists also formed a unified front with clear, discernable and achievable goals. This helped them conduct intense lobbying over several years with political parties in order to get gay rights on the platform. Activists likewise created an association between gay rights and social change — something that many Thai people desired following years of military, conservative rule.
Thai activists were able to form a cohesive and organized effort that targeted both the public and the government in order to create perhaps the greatest shift in LGBTQ+ perceptions in Asia. With legalized same-sex marriage as the shining trophy of their efforts, many are optimistic about the future of the queer community in the country.
However, the same movement in the United States has not been as triumphant. First of all, same-sex marriage in the United States was legalized under a Supreme Court ruling, whereas Thailand legalized it through legislation. This distinction highlights the clear role of public opinion in the establishment of the law in Thailand — that same support was not necessary in the United States. In fact, only 53% of Americans supported same-sex marriage prior to the ruling, compared to 96.6% of Thais supporting the same cause.
Today, gay rights groups in the United States lack direction and drown in opulence. The same level of fervor, coordination and clear-cut goals doesn’t exist in the American movement. Americans also tend to be more reactionary instead of proactive when it comes to activism. For instance, the Brown Democrats here on campus routinely do phone banking, but this method fails to generate the nuanced dialogue now needed in the country. Long-lasting change requires more than just a concerted effort in a single conversation over the phone.
American activists need to take a page out of Thailand’s book if they want to reverse this worrying trend in LGBTQ+ rights. We need to be more willing to lobby the opposition and brainstorm creative ways to start conversations about progressive values. Can media effectively open the minds of conservative Americans the way that boys love did among Thai conservatives? How can gay rights groups like the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation work more closely with other organizations to reignite the same kind of passion for gay rights as in Thailand? Answering these questions will be critical to safeguarding the future of the LGBTQ+ community.
Shayyan Ahmed ’27 can be reached at shayyan_ahmed@brown.edu. Please send responses to this column to letters@browndailyherald.com and other opinions to opinions@browndailyherald.com.
