Hundreds of people began registering their marriages at a mall in Bangkok, as Thailand became one of the few places in Asia to legalize same-sex unions.

On Thursday, Joe and Mate will tie the knot in central Bangkok, joining roughly 200 couples in a joyful mass-wedding that marks a seismic shift in Thailand. After decades of campaigning and countless setbacks, the country is becoming the first in southeast Asia – and only the second in Asia after Taiwan – to introduce full marriage equality.

Welcome to our live coverage as same-sex marriage becomes legal in Thailand. It's a huge day for the country, which is one of very few places in Asia to recognise marriage equality. It's just past 0800 in Bangkok, where LGBTQ+ couples have been queuing at district offices and other venues to get married.

Hundreds of same-sex couples are tying the knot across Thailand on Thursday as the country becomes the first in Southeast Asia to recognize marriage equality.

It means LGBT couples now have the same rights as any other couple - the culmination of a decades-long campaign.

"It has been a long fight full of tears for us." That is how Ann "Waaddao" Chumaporn describes the years that led to this moment – on Thursday, when same-sex marriage becomes legal in Thailand, and more than a hundred couples will tie the knot in one of Bangkok's biggest shopping malls,