Asia’s First: Taiwan Legalises Same-Sex Marriage Law
Taiwan has been a leader for gay rights movement in the continent of Asia, hosting annual gay pride parade in Taipei attended by LGBT groups from all over the continent. While same-sex marriage is still illegal in China, homosexuality was decriminalised in the country in 1997, and officially removed from its list of mental illnesses three years later.
Elsewhere in Asia, laws are changing to reflect more tolerant attitudes towards LGBT groups. However the approach varies in other Asian countries. In April, Brunei announced strict Sharia laws that made anal sex and adultery offences punishable by stoning to death, but then it says it won’t not enforce the death penalty for the LGBTQ+ community.
Back to Taiwan, the fight for marriage equality did not come easy. It consisted of forth-and-back spanning years after years. In 2017, Taiwan’s constitutional court ruled that same-sex couples had the right to legally marry. It said then that the island had two years to make necessary changes to the law. But this was met with a public backlash, which pressured the government into holding a series of referendums. Conservative groups in Taiwan campaigned against same-sex marriage reform. Their representatives pushed for watered-down versions of the bill, similar to same-sex unions.
On May 17th which happens to be the International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia, and Biphobia, tens of thousands of marriage equality advocates braved pouring rain, to show their support for the only bill to use the word “marriage.”. One week before the assigned two-year deadline, Taiwanese lawmakers passed a bill where same-sex couples can register as a married couple with government agencies.
After examining three drafts of the bill, lawmakers passed the only version that used the term “marriage,” which had been backed by progressive LGBTQ+ groups. The two other bills had been pushed by conservative groups and offered extremely limited rights, and only recognized same-sex unions with fewer protections and benefits.
The decision was a sigh of relief for many advocates after a disappointing referendum last year where 67% of eligible Taiwanese voters said no to same-sex marriage only six months after the country’s highest court ruled in favour of it
The legislation has implications beyond Taiwan. A common argument in many Asian countries is that same-sex relations do not belong in traditional Asian cultures. Some even claim they stem from cultural colonization and propaganda from Western countries. The same-sex marriage statute passed in Taiwan sends an important message to the world: that the LGBTQ+ community is not intruding into Asian cultures, and LGBTQ+ rights can coexist peacefully with traditional Asian values.
In the end, this hard-fought victory marks a new page in Taiwanese history — at least for the moment. Thank you to the courageous actions of members from the LGBTQ+ community who stepped up, came out, shared their stories with families and friends, and helped the public to learn about the difficulties faced by the community, their right to marriage has finally been recognized.
Verdict: Marriage equality will now go into effect island-wide in Taiwan on Friday, May 24th. Love is love.
