A subcommittee of Thailand’s Justice Ministry is drafting a bill that would allow same-sex couples to register as “life-partners.” This anticipated legislative move comes after a rocky history: As a similar bill was being drafted in 2014, the Thai military coup interrupted deliberations.

At this point, it’s unclear what a “life-partnership” will actually mean in comparison to marriage, but many are expecting some financial and legal affordances that are available in marriages. In an article published in the Thai publication The Nation, multiple same-sex couples discuss the potential advantages this groundbreaking legislative advancement would have on their lives.

One man, Vitaya Saeng-aroon, claimed discrimination when his partner was placed in ICU.

“When my same-sex partner was in ICU earlier this year, I was not permitted to sign any document after he went into a coma,” Saeng-aroon explained. “I was not his relative, even though I had been taking care of him for over a year I had to wait for his brother from upcountry to show up. After a week in ICU, he passed away peacefully. I did not know about his death until his brother called me.”

While the exact content of the bill has yet to be announced, critics are skeptical, expressing that previous drafts of the bill placed restrictions on the legal recognition of same-sex unions. For example, previous iterations of the Civil Partnerships Bill have prohibited LGBTQ couples from adopting. Read more via INTO