Dear Gossips,    

Earlier this week Thailand’s legislature voted in favour of the marriage equity bill. It now has to go through Senate review followed by the King’s assent before it becomes law. This is basically a formality so for all intents and purposes, Thailand is the first county in South East Asia to legalise same sex marriage, a huge win for the 2SLGBTQ+ community who’ve been pushing for their basic human rights for over 20 years.

 

Here’s the scene at Bangkok’s pride parade earlier this month. 

This, obviously, is wonderful and also, from a pop culture perspective, super interesting. Because  Thailand’s biggest cultural export is BL dramas. BL is “boys love” and many believe that “BL [is] Thailand’s soft power, doing for the …nation’s global image what the yoga boom has done for India or K-pop for South Korea”. 

 

One of the most popular Thai BL dramas is a show called 2gether, released in 2020. It came out at the beginning of the pandemic, people were at home, watching and watching and watching everything and discovering the growing library of Thai BL, at which point 2gether went mega viral. Its success inspired producers in other Asian countries, like Korea, to invest more in their own BL content. 

Last year, the two stars of a series called KinnPorsche, Apo Wattanagitiphat and Mile Romsaithong, were invited to fashion week in Milan and their appearance generated so much social media traffic, only Zendaya and Kylie Jenner were more talked about than they were on multiple platforms. This is why both now have their own luxury brand partnerships. 

 

Here’s Metawin Opas-Iamkajorn, aka Win, one of the stars of 2gether, at the Prada show the other day. 

 

Obviously the work of queer advocates in Thailand over two decades has been instrumental in pushing through this recent legislation. But we also cannot discount the value and the impact of art, of these BL television shows that are being watched around the world. As recently as 2022, just two years ago, TIME reported that: 

“BL’s success isn’t a given, however. Thailand is a socially conservative, primarily Buddhist country with a significant Muslim minority. The country’s military-backed regime—known for its use of repressive laws to crack down on politically progressive forces—is also unlikely to be enthusiastic about the country’s burgeoning reputation as an exporter of luscious gay TV.”

But “luscious gay TV” is bringing money and attention to the country. And now we’ve arrived at this moment, with a bill that has passed and will soon be ratified allowing same sex couples to love freely. The power of BL television!

 

And if you’ve never watched BL from Thailand, start with the two shows I’ve just mentioned, 2gether and KinnPorsche, and here’s a trailer for my favourite BL drama from last year, Moonlight Chicken. 

 

For a longer list of BL dramas overall, not just from Thailand, Teen Vogue has a good list. 

And finally, thanks to J Scott for the note and request to write about this. I should have been posting more about BL dramas in this space, and I appreciate your encouragement. 

Yours in gossip, 

Lainey 

Photo credits: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/ Getty Images

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