Last May, the Malaysian police seized 172 rainbow watches from 11 Swatch shops across the country. The Malaysian Home Minister said that the brand's Pride collection are "detrimental to morality" and threatened anyone caught wearing one of the watches with fine and jail time. Although noone has yet to be jailed for wearing rainbow and a variety of gay venues in Kuala Lumpur, LGBTQ people are facing more repression due to rising Islamic fundamentalism.

The Thai Senate on Tuesday (2 April) voted 147 to 4 to approve the Marriage Equality bill in its first Senate reading.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) calls on the Thai Senate to promptly pass the Marriage Equality bill, which was approved by an overwhelming majority in the House of Representatives yesterday (27 March), noting that passing the bill is an opportunity for Thailand to match its positive global reputation on LGBT rights with tangible legal protections.

The Thai parliament yesterday (27 March) voted 399 to 10 to approve the Marriage Equality bill at the final reading, paving the way for Thailand to become the first country in Southeast Asia to recognize marriage for all. At the same time, the use of gendered language in the bill leads to the concern that some rights will remain limited for LGBTQ people.

Tomorrow (27 March), the marriage equality bill will return to parliament for its second and third readings. Meanwhile, the human rights organization Fortify Rights has called on parliament to ensure that the bill provides equal rights to LGBTQ people.

Parliament on Wednesday (21 February) voted to reject the Move Forward Party (MFP)’s Gender Recognition bill, which proposed to allow trans and non-binary people to change gender markers on their official documents to match their identity.

Yesterday (21 December), the Thai parliament passed the first reading of four bills proposing amendments to the marriage law to allow registration of marriage regardless of gender. If adopted, the amendments would make Thailand the first country in Southeast Asia to recognize marriage for all.

As the Thai parliament debates bills amending the Civil and Commercial Code to allow marriage registration regardless of gender, Amnesty International calls for the immediate adoption of this law and for the final version of the legislation to grant equal rights and legal recognition to LGBTQ couples as heterosexual couples.

After the cabinet's approval of a marriage equality bill and decision to introduce it to parliament next month, the human rights organization Fortify Rights call on parliament to urgently pass it into law and ensure the right to marriage equality for couples of all genders in Thailand.

The cabinet is planning to propose to parliament amendments to the Civil and Commercial Code to allow for the registration of marriage regardless of gender.

A civil society network proposing a new marriage equality bill, a gender recognition bill, and a bill repealing the 1996 Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act is poised to launch a campaign to collect signatures to introduce the bills into parliament.

A civil society network is preparing to propose a gender recognition bill which would allow trans people to change the gender markers in their official documents to match their identities. It would also permit non-binary people to use gender-neutral markers and allow intersex people to employ gender neutral markers until they decide their gender orientation.