Bangkok is celebrating its first LGBTQ+ pride march since 2006

The Naruemit pride 2022 – Naruemit meaning creation in Thai – organized by a coalition ofNGO supported by the city’s new governor, Chadchart Sittiput.

Participants of all genders – sexual freedom supporters, feminists, prostitutes, drag queens – gathered on one of the megacity’s main highways for the first official parade since 2006.

I feel so happylaunched with a smile by Johnnie Phurikorn, a 31-year-old drag queen who matched her red lips with a scarlet ruffled dress for her first Pride celebration LGBTQ+. I am happy and grateful to have this moment.

The country in Southeast Asia has a community LGBTQ+ highly visible, but many of its members face extreme hardship and discrimination in the conservative kingdom that is predominantly Buddhist.

I don’t want people to think we’re differentexplained Maysa Petkam, contestant in the Miss Tiffany Universe trans beauty pageant. We don’t want more rights than other genres, we just want basic rights.

Hopefully the marriage law will be passed for everyone, for there will be laws that protect and fight gender inequalityhe added, pointing out that his community still suffered daily isolation.

Same-sex marriage remains illegal in Thailand. In March, the government rejected a bill to this effect.

This did not stop Anticha Sangchai and Vorawan Ramwan from celebrating their union in the middle of the parade. Dressed in wedding dresses, they caught the attention of the crowd and social networks.

My dear friends parked together and made us a very special momentsaid Anticha toAFPcalling experience ahonor and claims the right to have a family, to love and marry whoever you want.

The party continued until midnight. A large crowd settled under one of the capital’s metro stations, partially blocking a large artery and engaging in an improvised drag show to the sound of songs by Madonna, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry that sung in chorus.