Gender Identity and Social Acceptance in Contemporary Thai Society
Keywords:
Gender identity, Thailand, LGBTQ+, Discrimination, Legal recognitionAbstract
This article examines the complex relationship between gender identity and social acceptance in contemporary Thai society. While Thailand is internationally recognized for its LGBTQ+ visibility and cultural tolerance, legal and social structures often fail to support the lived realities of gender-diverse individuals. Through a review of local identity terms, historical and cultural contexts, media representation, legal frameworks, and everyday discrimination, the article highlights contradictions between symbolic acceptance and institutional exclusion. Recent developments such as the 2025 Marriage Equality Act offer progress but fall short without comprehensive legal gender recognition. The findings underscore the need for inclusive reforms, intersectional analysis, and the amplification of marginalized voices to achieve genuine social justice.
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This article is published under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), which allows others to share the article with proper attribution to the authors and prohibits commercial use or modification. For any other reuse or republication, permission from the journal and the authors is required.
