Asia-Pacific News

Thailand's underwater wedding goes gay

Aug 24, 2007, 3:20 GMT

Bangkok - Thailand's world-famed underwater wedding festival will no longer be a straight-lace affair as of next Valentine's Day, when all couples regardless of their sexual orientation will be invited to join the annual event, media reports said Friday. 'We would like to extend an opportunity for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders to openly express their love,' said Wichat Rattamanee, chairman of the Trang Tourism Association. Trang, 670 kilometres south of Bangkok, has been staging offshore underwater weddings every Valentines' Day since 1997 as a means of promoting tourism to the province, which rims the Andaman Sea. Wichat has decided that the scuba-suit weddings, always well publicized by the international media, will attract even more tourists to Trang if the Valentines' vows are extended to non-straight couples, said The Nation newspaper. But the Thai ceremony will stop short of granting the mixed couples official marriage certificates, still not allowed under Thai law. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) couples will be given a certificate announcing that they are officially 'lovers' instead. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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