Thai civil partnership is the new marriage inequality : queer critiques on the discourses in the civil partnership bill of state activism towards marriage ‘equality’

Abstract

With an equal access to legal registration becoming the international mainstream development agenda and movement of 21st century, Thailand proposed a civil partnership bill developed by the Rights and Liberties Protection Department in 2018. Although the initiative seems promisingly progressive, the drafting, legal product and outcomes that the bill promises to bring lay vigorous ground of criticisms. This thesis is the first English-language academic work that uniquely integrates theoretical outlook and arguments of queer theory where Foucauldian discourse analysis is the key concept applied to critique the discourses codified in the bill. This thesis aims to analyze how Thai discourse of marriage affects state activism of marriage equality through the proposal of controversial civil partnership and argue how it is a new marriage inequality. This thesis presents key findings derived from secondary sources, content analysis of the bill, interviews with key actors, participation in relevant activities and events and insights from the author as an activist. The discourse of marriage in Thailand is more social and cultural than legal where witnessed ceremony without registration with state is regarded as recognition. Interacting with foreign influences, the civil partnership as a new registration system was proposed to make marriage more gender-inclusive and arguably equal, however the criticisms prove otherwise. Thai movement of marriage equality faces internal complexity among the civil society and state authorities. This paper concludes that beyond the limitation of rights, the civil partnership bill is a new marriage inequality. The oppressive institution of marriage whose discourse is monopolized by state is used as a tool to control and discipline Thai LGBTI couples. The discriminative civil partnership act normalizes and compromises the needs of the community with statist interest of state, enabling the reproduction and idealization of state-approved norms and expectations.