section_path: Civil partnerships
section_name: Civil partnerships
paragraph_text: Civil partnerships
  
  In December 2012, the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra formed a committee to draft legislation providing legal recognition to same-sex couples in the form of civil partnerships. On 8 February 2013, the Rights and Liberties Protection Department and the Parliament's Committee on Legal Affairs, Justice, and Human Rights held a first public hearing on the civil partnership bill, drafted by the committee's chairman, Viroon Phuensaen. By 2014, the bill had bipartisan support, but was stalled due to political unrest in the country. In the second half of 2014, media reported that a draft bill called the Civil Partnership Act (Thai: พระราชบัญญัติคู่ชีวิต, Phraratchabanyat Khuchiwit) would be submitted to the junta-appointed Thai Parliament. It would have granted same-sex couples some of the rights of opposite-sex marriage, but was criticized for increasing the minimum age from 17 to 20, and omitting adoption rights.
  
  In 2017, government officials responded favourably to a petition signed by 60,000 people calling for the legalisation of same-sex civil partnerships. Pitikan Sithidej, the director-general of the Rights and Liberties Protection Department, confirmed that she had received the petition and "would do all she could" to get it passed as soon as possible. The Ministry of Justice convened on 4 May 2018 to begin discussions on a draft civil partnership bill, titled the Same Sex Life Partnership Registration Bill. Under the proposal, same-sex couples would have been able to register as "life partners" and would have been granted some of the rights of marriage. The bill was discussed in public hearings between 12 and 16 November, where a reported 98 percent of respondents expressed support for the measure. The government approved the bill on 25 December 2018. On 8 July 2020, the new government formed following the 2019 election approved a new draft of the bill and introduced to the National Assembly. However, it did not pass before the end of the year.
  
  On 14 February 2023, Bangkok 's Dusit district became the first jurisdiction in Thailand to issue partnership certificates (Thai: ใบรับการแจ้งชีวิตคู่, bairap kan chaeng chiwit khu) to same-sex couples. The certificates are not legally binding but can serve as evidence-based documentation of a relationship. The district also announced it would use the certificates to roughly estimate the number of same-sex couples in the district wishing to marry.