Bangkok’s Lumphini Park will be the starting point for this year’s annual pride in Bangkok as City Hall steps up its commitment to the LGBTQ+ community.
For the first time since 2006, the public park will host Bangkok Pride when it kicks off at 4pm on June 4 before heading down Ratchadamri Road and ending at CentralwOrld shopping mall. The route is 1.5 kilometers long and about 30,000 participants are anticipated to join the march.
Last year’s pride events were the first held in the capital after a 12-year hiatus, and this is the first to be held since an elected governor returned to power. City Hall’s embrace of the event by providing a public venue delivers on Gov. Chadchart Sittipunt’s campaign promises to better serve LGBT+ Bangkok.
City Hall has gone so far as to vow that Bangkok will become a “rainbow city” that does not only tolerate people of gender diversity, but accepts and embraces them.
“This will not be just a one-off event, but something that will strengthen social dialogue for Bangkok to become a more inclusive city,” said deputy governor Sanon Wangsrangboon at the press conference.
Deputy governor Sanon Wangsrangboon speaks on Thursday at a press conference of Bangkok Pride 2023 at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. Photo: Bangkok Metropolitan Administration
The theme, “Beyond…Gender,” is to highlight people whose identities belong outside the gender binary, according to Chumaporn “Waaddao” Taengkliang, an LGBTQ+ activist, feminist, and one of the march’s organizers. It also aims to raise awareness about social issues including marriage equality, decriminalization of sex work, educational inequality, ethnic discrimination, and more.
A highlight of the event will be a rainbow flag, 144.8 meters in length, that will be laid along the route. That number is meant to signify Section 1448 of Thailand’s Civil and Commercial Code, which allows only couples consisting of a man and a woman to register their marriages. LGBTQ+ people and their supporters have been fighting for Section 1448 to be revised so that the terms “male” and “female” are replaced with “person” instead.
People living outside of Bangkok won’t be left out as another 18 provinces throughout Thailand will hold pride parades in June. Among those cities are Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Phuket, Khon Kaen, Songkhla, and Ubon Ratchathani.
Last year, the Bangkok Naruemit Pride was held June 5 in Bangkok’s Silom area, marking the city’s first pride parade since 2006. Prior to that, “Pride in the Park” events were a regular feature during Pride Month.
Newly elected, Chadchart joined last year’s parade and announced that Pride Month would be made one of Bangkok’s 12 official monthly festivals.
A Thursday press conference of Bangkok Pride 2023 at the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre. Photo: Bangkok Metropolitan Administration
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