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

Same-sex couples in Thailand are poised to celebrate a landmark achievement many decades in the making: the legal right to marry. On Thursday a marriage equality bill will become law, allowing members of the LGBTQ+ community in Thailand to get married and have the same legal rights as heterosexual couples.

International pressure is mounting on Thailand – including from the new US administration – over the fate of dozens of Uyghur men held in detention for more than a decade, following reports the Thai government planned to deport the group to China.

United Nations (UN) experts have urged Thailand not to deport 48 Uyghurs to China and to treat people deprived of their liberty more humanely.

Dozens of men from the ethnic minority sought escape from repression in China a decade ago, but have been detained in Thailand ever since.