section_path: Same-sex marriage/Background
section_name: Background
paragraph_text: Background
  
  In May 1928, Thai media reported the story of a marriage between two women in Bangkok. One of the spouses was shot dead a month later.
  
  In September 2011, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and the Sexual Diversity Network proposed draft legislation on same-sex marriage and called on the Thai Government to support its legalisation. In September 2013, the Bangkok Post reported that an attempt in 2011 by Natee Teerarojjanapong, the president of the Gay Political Group of Thailand, to register a marriage with his male partner had been rejected. Several other couples made similar attempts over the following years.
  
  In 2021, the Constitutional Court ruled that section 1448 of the Civil and Commercial Code defining marriages as only being between "women and men" was constitutional. The court stated that same-sex couples "cannot reproduce, as it is against nature, and that people of those communities are no different to other animals with strange behaviours or physical features". The verdict cited LGBT people as a different "species" that needed to be separated and studied as they are incapable of creating the "delicate bond" of human relationships. The text was criticised by LGBT activists as "sexist and demeaning". The court ruling stated:
  
  Marriage is when a man and a woman are willing to live together, to build a husband and wife relationship to reproduce their offspring, under the morals, traditions, religion and the laws of each society. Marriage is, therefore, reserved for only a man and a woman.