Thailand took a historic step in 2024 by legalising same-sex marriage, but the legislation stops short of granting LGBTQ couples full parental rights. Same-sex couple Jacob Holder and Surapong 'Keng' Koonpaew struggle to build 'modern family' in Thailand. - REUTERS
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00:00Jacob Holder and his husband, Surapong Khun Pyo, are out with their son, Elijah Prynne.
00:07Like countless families in Bangkok, they're enjoying a morning stroll in the city's Lumpini
00:12Park.
00:13The trio cherishes these quiet moments together, yet their journey to this moment was, and
00:18is still, far from ordinary.
00:21Holder moved to Thailand in 2012, where he met his husband, Khun Pyo, also known as King,
00:27in 2021.
00:29The couple got married two years later in the United States.
00:32Soon after, their son was born via legal surrogacy in Colombia, because the process is unavailable
00:39to same-sex couples in Thailand.
00:42But although both fathers are on his U.S. birth certificate, Elijah has no legal ties
00:46to King under Thai law.
00:49Elijah is currently on a tourist visa in Thailand, but isn't recognized as a Thai child or given
00:54the same rights as others.
00:57For us, King was the second person to hold our son after he was born.
01:02Within the first 30 minutes after he was born, he was there holding him.
01:08And so he's his parent through and through just as much as I am.
01:14But when we arrive to Thailand, legally, they are strangers.
01:19Legally, they have no connection.
01:24If tomorrow, God forbid, something did happen to me, we have real concerns what then happens
01:33between King and our son under the eyes of the Thai law.
01:39Thailand made headlines by becoming the first country in Southeast Asia to legalize same-sex
01:43marriage.
01:44While that was historic, the law has its limits.
01:47It denies LGBTQ couples full parental rights, defining parenthood as a bond between a man
01:54and a woman.
01:55That's because the definition of a family in Thai law is still a father as a man, a
02:00mother as a woman, and biological birth.
02:03Activists push for a gender-neutral definition of parenthood in the Marriage Equality Bill,
02:08but it was rejected by most lawmakers.
02:11Mukdapa Yangyun Pradhon is a human rights specialist at the advocacy group 45 Rights.
02:19I mean, it's true that on the paper, everything looks nice.
02:23The celebration, all the parades that will come, the campaigning and all the flying rainbows
02:31that comes with the celebration, it really looks promising, but that's why the movement
02:39needs to continue.
02:40That's why we need to continue campaigning for what it means to open up fully for LGBTQI
02:48couples when it comes to their rights to find a family.
02:53Later this year, Holder and Kang expect their second child, conceived through overseas surrogacy
02:59with Kang's DNA.
03:00This will create a new complexity.
03:02One sibling will have a Thai citizenship, while Elijah will remain an American, a reality
03:07the couple is ready to accept.
03:10Growing up, I would like for him to be seen as our son, not just Jacob, my son as well.
03:22Growing up here in Thailand, physically he would definitely look different from Asian
03:29kids, Thai kids, but at heart, he grew up here.
03:34He's surrounded himself by Thai people.
03:39Every piece of him is Thai as well, and I want him to feel that.