Vietnam has repealed regulations to fine same-sex couples who marry in a move that will bolster the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.
A woman poses with a rainbow flag displaying the words "Viet Pride" as she prepares to take part in Vietnam's first gay pride parade on a road in Hanoi on August 5, 2012. The government has now decided to scrap fines for same-sex couples who marry. (AFP photo)
The country’s Ministry of Justice began discussing whether to legalise same-sex marriage or allow same-sex couples to legally cohabit last year.
But officials issued a draft proposal last month that would have doubled the fine for marrying someone of the same sex.
Under the draft decree that was earmarked to take effect this July, homosexual couples who married would have been fined up to one million VND, or almost 14,000 baht.
According to the Thanh Nien News website, human rights activists, the media and members of the public lambasted the proposal to double the fine, dismissing it as a “step back” for LGBT rights in a Confucian society where homosexuality was once labeled as taboo and a “social evil”.
As such, the government has decided to scrap the fines entirely.
Le Quang Binh, a sociologist who runs the Hanoi-based not-for-profit Institute for Studies of Society, Economy and Environment (iSEE), said: “This is another new step forward that is in line with Vietnam’s current trend [toward] protecting the rights of LGBT people.”
Despite this, Vietnam’s Deputy Minister of Justice Pham Quy Ty told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper that scrapping the fine “doesn’t mean Vietnam recognizes same-sex marriages”.
His ministry has repeatedly said that same-sex marriages are unlikely to be legalised in the near future.
Earlier this month, Vietnam’s first gay sitcom “My Best Gay Friends”, made by a 21-year-old student, became an online hit, attracting more than one million views to date.
Vietnam held its first LGBT pride parade last year on Aug 5 in Hanoi. Viet Pride 2013 will include a campaign to end discrimination towards LGBT people in employment, a bicycle rally, film showings and workshops from August 2-4 in Hanoi.