This is reported by Bloomberg news agency. With the unions, couples can now adopt children, make arrangements for joint ownership and obtain inheritance rights.

Civil unions do not yet equate to heterosexual marriage. This is because it is defined in the law as a separate category: it must concern two people of the same sex, older than seventeen, of whom at least one person has a Thai nationality. The "new category" partners do not have all the medical rights and the same tax benefits as opposite couples.

Progressive MPs are therefore critical. Also because the law is not inclusive enough to all gender identities. Transgender MP Tanwarin Sukkhapisit proposes to amend the marriage law. In it, "husband and wife" should be changed to "married partner".

The other Asian country that has legitimized same-sex unions is Taiwan (also in the form of marriage).