After a quarter century, Thailand’s LGBTQ Pride Parade is seen as a popular and political success

By JINTAMAS SAKSORNCHAI
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand has kicked off its annual celebration for the LGBTQ+ community’s Pride Month as the country is on course to become the first nation in Southeast Asia to legalize marriage equality. Saturday’s Bangkok Pride Parade filled one side of a major thoroughfare with a colorful parade for several hours in one of the Thai capital’s busiest commercial districts. Pride Month celebrations have been endorsed by politicians, government agencies and some of the country’s biggest business conglomerates. But the public celebration of gender diversity was not always so popular in Thailand despite its long-standing reputation as an LGBTQ+ friendly country. An organizer recalls that he faced social and bureaucratic hurdles when he established what was then called the “Bangkok Gay Festival” in 1999.