Hundreds of same-sex couples are expected to tie the knot across Thailand on Thursday as the country becomes the first in Southeast Asia to recognize marriage equality.

Thai society has long been seen as accepting of gender-fluid identities and relationships, but matching legal structures were absent

It's a big week for LGBTQ+ couples in Thailand. On Thursday, they will be able to legally register their marriages, making it only the third place in Asia, after Taiwan and Nepal, where they have such a right.

Thailand is now the first nation in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, granting LGBTQ couples the same human rights as their heterosexual counterparts. The new law, effective this Thursday,

"It has been a long fight full of tears for us." That is how Ann "Waaddao" Chumaporn describes the years that led to this moment – on Thursday, when same-sex marriage becomes legal in Thailand, and more than a hundred couples will tie the knot in one of Bangkok's biggest shopping malls,

LGBTQ+ couples and activists have gathered in Thailand’s capital, Bangkok, to celebrate ahead of the country’s first same-sex weddings on Thursday (23 January). Last June, Thailand became the first country in Southeast Asia to legalise gay marriage.