During the month of June, I believe that many of you may have seen logos in online media changed to a colourful rainbow flag. Many brands have launched campaigns to support LGBTQ, and you may have seen social media users share their opinions and support gender diversity. All of this is because of an important time: "Pride Month". Although Thai society is now starting to be more open and accepting of gender diversity than in the past, gender diverse groups have nevertheless not received recognition or protection regarding their legal rights and responsibilities. In order not to allow this issue to be lost from the conversation, the Alumni Relations Team invited Akawat Laowonsiri, Full-time Lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University,
an advocate for a same-sex family establishment law who was also behind the draft Life Partners Act, to talk about the birth of the Life Partners Act and the role of the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University in supporting gender diversity.
The importance of registering as life partners
The Life Partner Registration Act will have two contexts which confer status and give rise to rights and duties, which are (1) relationships in a family, which is the starting point for the status of a family that gives rise to a legal relationship just like husband and wife, creating various rights and responsibilities between members within the family, such as rights and responsibilities between life partners, rights and responsibilities between life partners and children, and rights and responsibilities arising from the relationship as regards assets, etc; and (2) relationships outside of the family context due to the establishment of a family in the position of life partners, which may take many various forms in today’s world, including expenditure, performing a juristic act through a contract, such as making a contract of employment or a life insurance contract, together with performing an act which is a legal causative event.
Tell us about your experiences of being involved in the draft Life Partnership Act, including any problems or obstacles in drafting the Act
At that time, the Ministry of Justice was drafting a law to affirm and protect the rights of gender diverse groups, called the “Draft Life Partnership Act.” When I first came on board it was only as an unofficial advisor, but it became clear that there were many technical issues with the draft, so I was given the opportunity to do some in-depth research on the Life Partners Act funded by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and produced a revised version of the draft Act in just 6 months. After that, the draft which I originally presented was revised and analysed through cooperation between the Ministry of Justice, Government officials, various agencies and civil society groups, and emerged as the “Amphawa draft,” which took the aspects of foreign model laws which offered the greatest benefits to gender diverse groups and incorporated them into
the Amphawa draft. The draft then passed through a review process through various committees, with parts deleted and others added several times, until the draft went into the process of consideration by the Council of State, which made further additions to the content of the draft to be more comprehensive, 70 sections in total. Currently, the draft Life Partners Act is in Parliament. We really only participated in the first phase; after that, it's in someone else's hands. A lot of our part was deleted too (laughs), but I'm glad to have been involved.
Regarding problems in drafting the Act, this is because legal provisions cannot be viewed solely from a legal perspective but must be looked at from a social perspective also. Therefore, we need to refer to
the actual facts that are really occurring in society, including all the impacts on people from the enforcement of this law. For this reason, there was controversy over instituting a system of rules for family relationships of same-sex couples close to that of male-female family relationships, in order to achieve equality and maximum benefit for the people involved.
Between “Amending Section 1448 of the Civil and Commercial Code (CCC)” and the “Life Partners Act which will be issued as a new law specifically for gender diverse groups,” in your view, which approach is more suitable for Thai society?
For “Amending Section 1448 of the CCC,” it can be seen that the allocation of equality for all genders is faster than the enactment of the Life Partners Act. However, it should also be noted that even where there has been a change of the wording of the CCC, as regards the interpretation of law or legal method it still takes time to study and learn what the court's interpretation will be, including what legal scholars consider the scope of the application of the law to be, to create a line of judgments or norms for the enforcement of the law in the future. In the case of issuing the “Life Partners Act”, I think we can enact new laws specifically for gender diverse groups. This way, it will depend on what kind of provisions we draft, such as including provisions which protect the rights of gender diverse groups in a manner that is comprehensive and suitable for LGBTI groups and which do not overlap with the CCC. Alternatively, a new law could be issued as a specific Act but still maintain the same principles as the CCC, etc.
However, over the years that have passed by, when we look at all the steps and the obstacles
we have faced, we have to admit that it has been exceedingly difficult. I think that both options are suitable for Thai society, and I think that we can make both options work. However, I would like either one of the options to be chosen, and to be enforced for real in Thai society first. Once it is out there, it can be gradually adjusted to make it better. And which option is more concerning for people, the amendment to the CCC or issuing the Life Partners Act? A solid foundation should be established from the start, and that is the issuance of a special Act that makes the family status of life partners equal to the family status of a married couple, for equality and freedom from discrimination on the basis of gender, together with amendments to other laws which concern the status of family relationships of life partners in compliance with the law of diverse gender groups.
Expectations for the role of the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University in promoting gender diversity
On the role of the faculty in relation to the people in the organisation, at present our faculty has
the “Audit and Equality Promotion Committee,” which serves to promote and monitor non-discrimination on the basis of gender, which is an interesting new step and could be a model for other places too. Overall,
I believe that our faculty maintains good standards and has always focused on all aspects of diversity promotion.
On the role of the faculty in relation to outsiders, it can be seen that our faculty members are constantly spreading academic knowledge to society. As for myself, if I am asked what I expect from the Faculty of Law, I would have to ask myself what more would I do, because I am a part of this place. But, well, I still don't feel like I'm doing enough. But if I have hopes from others in the law faculty, I would like to have a new form of media production that educates the public in a way that is easy to understand and more accessible, such as video clips or short films to create entertainment with knowledge and good ideas. Some laws are very technical. For example, sexual orientation has its own technicalities. If we make it simple, people will understand it easily, which will be beneficial. I think short films are worth doing. Lecturers, staff or alumni, including the current centre, should come and perform (laughs)!
This year, the Alumni Relations Team would like you to join us in celebrating Pride Month and uphold the values of human dignity, equality and coexistence with respect and dignity in a multicultural society.
Thammasat Law Alumni Team
Faculty of Law, Thammasat University
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