Thailand to Spend Millions on Transgender Hormone Therapy
The Public Health Ministry has earmarked funds to be used to provide gender-affirming health care to nearly 200,000 trans citizens.
Thailand’s Public Health Ministry has allocated millions to the National Health Security Office, with the money being earmarked to provide hormones to its transgender citizens.
Deputy government spokesman Anukool Pruksanusak said the ministry is supporting the government’s recent passage of a marriage equality law last year by emphasizing not only physical health care but mental health care for LGBTQ individuals, reports the Bangkok Post.
Anukool said there is growing acceptance of diverse gender identities, and acknowledged that transgender individuals may often require hormone therapy to assist them in transitioning until their physical appearance aligns with their gender identity.
As part of its budget planning for 2025, the National Health Security Board approved 145.63 million baht to provide health services, including hormone therapy, to approximately 200,000 transgender citizens of the country.
According to the Asia Pacific Transgender Network, there are believed to be approximately 314,808 transgender individuals living in Thailand.
Thailand has long been considered one of the more LGBTQ-friendly countries in Asia. Its public opinion polls show overwhelming support for same-sex marriage rights, and it has a reputation as a destination where transgender individuals can seek out gender-affirming health care.
Because the country’s economy depends heavily on tourism, it has begun courting LGBTQ tourists.
Thailand recently became the third Asian country, and the first in Southeast Asia, to allow same-sex couples to marry, with a law passing last year by overwhelming margins in the country’s parliament and taking effect on January 23, 2025.
Under the new law, same-sex couples are entitled to the same legal, financial, and medical decision-making rights afforded to opposite-sex couples, including inheritance rights in the case of the death of one of the partners and the right to adopt children jointly.
Hundreds of same-sex couples took part in a wedding ceremony at a convention center located inside Siam Paragon, one of Bangkok’s biggest shopping malls, to celebrate the law taking effect. Each couple was wed one at a time by officials who examined their documents and formally registered them as legally married.
“Jan. 23, 2025 will be the day that we all record history together, that the rainbow flag has been planted gracefully in Thailand,” the country’s prime minister, Paetongtarn Shinawatra, wrote on her Instagram account. “Everyone’s love is legally recognized with honor and dignity.”
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