In the lead-up to its second reading, the civil partnership draft bill marks a decade since its inception, dating back to a gay couple who were denied legal recognition in 2012 because the law limits marriage to a man and a woman. Given the conservatism of earlier decades, civil partnership was "the first brick" at a time when marriage equality was almost inconceivable. However, history is often ignored. Despite its long journey in conjunction with the new bill, the uphill push for marriage rights will remain an unfinished business under the current government.
After that gay couple filed a complaint with a parliamentary committee, the Ministry of Justice proposed civil partnership in 2013 in the hope it would gradually evolve into marriage equality. It faced resistance from civil society groups, but it was the military coup in 2014 by Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha that aborted the first step of promising change. A civil partnership draft by the non-government sector also stalled under military rule. In an undemocratic society, those in power are not bound by public interest and therefore are devoid of political will. Interference by external forces has reversed hard-earned progress in civil rights. It is like one step forward, two steps back.
