Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are talking about biometrics in the context of LGBTQQIPSA++. What are we talking about here? Well let's dig in. I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Pattaya Mail, pattayamail.com, the article is titled: Anyone fancy a bowl of gay alphabet soup in Thailand? Quoting directly: "It looks like your finger got stuck on the keyboard but LGBTQQIPSA++ stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, pansexual, two-spirited and asexual. More identities are waiting in the wings such as gender fluids, agenders, bigenders, nonbinaries, ace spectrums and demisexuals. Not to mention the autogynephiles who are apparently sexually stimulated by just now and again wearing female clothing. Thailand stands ready to welcome more gays to get married or enjoy themselves long and short-term. But the language can't really deal with the complexities of alphabet soup even though there is a term for gay lingo namely "saeng ke". None the less, the Immigration Bureau is doing its best to help. 

So, the first part of all of that is like sort of all of this Western notions. I've said this in videos before, I am a big believer in marriage equality; I have been for years and years, it's just sort of the libertarian in me. I just think why does it matter what people's genders are, who people fall in love with? If they want to get married to somebody, they should get married. That said, I mean there's a big stretch from that to a lot of the really in my opinion absurdly, to the point of insane things, we see going on and all of these different sort of labels and whatnot. Again, I understand, different people whatever, you have your lifestyle choice, have fun. That said, we're getting into the realm of the absurd with all the labels and things, okay? What you do behind closed doors is your business. Expecting me to understand all of this vocabulary or imposing my understanding of this vocabulary, that seems like a step too far in my opinion. 

That said, the point of this video is more to bring home the fact that look I think we're going to see a lot more folks from the LGBT Community coming into Thailand over the course of the upcoming year because of the changes to the Marriage Law here in Thailand allowing same-sex marriage. That has been promulgated; it will come into effect some time in the first quarter of 2025 but there are Immigration implications to this because sometimes people’s sort of outward appearance does not comport with other people's expectations when they see people's travel documentation, let's put it that way, and Immigration has noted that they are there to help with this issue. Again, quoting directly: "Nonetheless, Immigration Bureau is doing its best to help. Pol. Maj. Gen. Choengron Rimpadee said that discrepancies between the photo or gender marker on the passport, compared with actual appearance at check-in, need not be a problem as biometric data could still prove your identity."

Yeah, look Thailand has biometrics and whether you like it or not - and there are some Orwellian, creepy aspects to biometrics, about that there is no doubt - the fact of the matter is biometrics don't really lie. Your fingerprint is what it is; a retinal scan is what it is; facial recognition, it's my understanding that it's quite complex and regardless of your actual appearance, whether or not you are manifesting as one sex or another or whatever, the facial recognition takes account of bone structure and other things that again just are inherently part of one's appearance, let's put it that way, and these biometrics, they're going to be operational notwithstanding the fact that again there may be some, in the mind of different people, there may be some discrepancy between what they're expecting on travel documentation and one's appearance. 

So basically, that's Immigration just saying, look we have got this under control, so all the folks from the LGBT Community who are looking to come to Thailand to avail themselves of the legal rights and benefits that maybe gained under the changes to Thailand's Marriage Law, Immigration is prepared to process those folks. It's not going to be any problem. We're looking forward to welcoming those folks to the Kingdom of Thailand.