By BANGKOK — They’ve waited six years to call themselves a “family.”
Pehthai Thanomkhet and Nathnicha Klinthaworn finally did on Thursday when Thailand’s law on same-sex marriage came into effect and they got formally married at a mass wedding event in Bangkok.
Wearing a tan Thai suit, Thanomkhet, 31, walked into Paragon Hall, an event space in one of the Thai capital’s biggest malls. There he held hands with Klinthaworn, 39, who wore a golden-white traditional Thai dress as the couple made their union official.
“I feel it has unlocked everything,” said Thanomkhet, a human resources manager who goes by his English name, Kevin.
“We can now use the word ‘family,’” he said.
Kevin and Maple after tying the knot in Bangkok on Thursday. Nat Sumon / NBC News
The mass wedding was organized by a Thai rights group, Naruemit Pride, which said about 300 couples had registered for the daylong event. In groups of 10 at a time, the couples presented their documents to officials sitting at desks who then legally registered them as married.
Spread across the hall, arches adorned with colorful balloons and flowers and the slogan “Love wins” served as photo backdrops for many of the newlyweds.
Like many others getting married on Thursday, Thanomkhet and Klinthaworn had called for years for same-sex marriage to be legally recognized in the Southeast Asian nation.
