After a long and sometimes controversial process, the Legislative Yuan on May 24 finally approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage. The landmark decision made Taiwan the first nation in Asia to recognize the right for the LGBTQ community, allowing them to apply for “marriage registration” as part of “exclusive permanent unions.” (Thailand has proposed a law that would recognize “civil partnerships,” but same-sex unions are still illegal in the rest of Asia.)
It all started in 2015, when Chi Chia-wei (祁家威) filed a request with the Council of Grand Justices for a constitutional interpretation of an article in the Civil Code stating that marriage only applies to the union between a woman and a man. The vote came just a week before a two-year deadline set by the council in 2017 for lawmakers to comply with the Enforcement Act of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748 ordering the Legislative Yuan to fix the law so that it would make marriage equality a reality.
Failing to do so, as reported by Courtney Donovan Smith in his article for Ketagalan Media, would have caused chaos for the government, because the absence of a law regulating same-sex marriages by the deadline would have “immediately taken effect on the Civil Code governing marriage,” leaving the government with no clear guidelines to register and administer marriages between same-sex couples.
The approval came amid lots of speculation about what the final outcome would be, especially after a referendum in November last year, in which about 70 percent of voters said “yes” to the question: “Do you agree that the Civil Code should define marriage as the union between a man and a woman?”
This created a complicated scenario for the Democratic Progressive Party and supporters of same-sex marriage, but it is very important to understand that the referendum never had the authority to overturn the constitutional interpretation — that a law had to be created or same-sex marriage would have been incorporated into the Civil Code.
By a vote of 66 to 27, a bill that recognizes same-sex marriage and “gives couples many of the tax, insurance and child-custody benefits available to male-female married couples” was finally approved.
This should have happened a long time ago, given that Taiwan has a large gay community and every year holds the biggest “gay pride” parade in Asia.
The bill’s passage was celebrated by people waiting outside the Legislative Yuan and among thousands more across the nation and the world.
The decision also made the rounds through national and international media outlets, with famous personalities weighing in, such as Ellen DeGeneres, who retweeted a post by BuzzFeed that made reference to the same-sex legalization.
“Let’s celebrate every step in the right direction,” DeGeneres added.
Responding to the tweet, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) thanked her for the support.
Tsai also voiced her support for the legislation through a post on Twitter, in which she said that the decision taken by Taiwan marked “a chance to make history and show the world that progressive values can take root in an Asian society.”
The decision also drew praise from some unexpected places, such as the People’s Daily newspaper — a media outlet closely aligned with the Chinese Communist Party.
“Local lawmakers in Taiwan, China, have legalized same-sex marriage in a first for Asia,” the Chinese newspaper said in a tweet, along with an animated image with the words “Love is Love.”
This was seen by many as Beijing’s attempt to take credit for Taiwan’s landmark decision.
The attempt was not well-received by Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), who wrote on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ official twitter account: “WRONG! The bill was passed by our national parliament & will be signed by the president soon. Democratic #Taiwan is a country in itself & has nothing to do with authoritarian #China. @PDChina is a commie brainwasher & it sucks. JW”
The bill was also welcomed by the head of the Beijing Gender Health Education Institute, who called its passage a historic moment for the Asian and global LGBTQ community. He told CNN that he expected the accomplishment to have a big impact on China, offering them hope.
“The Chinese government has pointed to cultural tradition as a reason for same-sex marriage being unsuitable in China, but the decision in Taiwan, which shares a cultural tradition with us, proves that Chinese culture can be open, diverse and progressive,” he said.
The bill’s passage also became a trending topic on Sina Weibo and has continued to be a widely discussed story with a lot of positive comments coming from its community.
Homosexuality is not illegal in China, but the gay community faces a lot discrimination and prejudice. Examples of this include an author of same-sex erotic fiction being sentenced to 10 years in prison, censorship of the movie Bohemian Rhapsody, in which almost three minutes were deleted to avoid any references to Freddie Mercury’s homosexuality.
The situation is worse for the LGBTQ community in other Asian countries. Brunei on April 3 introduced death by stoning for gay sex, but a global outcry prompted the sultan early last month to say that the nation is extending a moratorium on capital punishment. In Indonesia, two men received 87 lashes after being accused of being gay and having sexual intercourse last year.
Whether the Taiwanese law would affect the way China and other Asian countries deal with their LGBTQ community is yet to be seen, but that Taiwan is leading the way is an important step in the nation’s fight for international recognition, as well as a victory for equality advocates.
However, there are still things that need improving in the fight for true equality, as the bill that was approved still falls short. Some of its biggest flaws are: It does not fully guarantee the rights of people who want to marry a person who comes from a nation that does not recognize same-sex marriage; and it would allow shared custody of the biologically related child of one of the partners, but not of a non-biologically related adopted child.
There is still work to be done to free the LGBTQ community from prejudice in Taiwan. For instance, when news of the legalization broke, the owner of Formosa Fitness posted on the gym’s Facebook page that it rejects LGBTQ conduct and that it wants to provide a space in which children would be safe and traditional marriage would be protected. A majority of the reactions to the post were negative.
Taiwan has taken an important first step to achieve equality for this group, but the fight is far from over. We must all work hard to make sure that this step is not the last one.
Juan Fernando Herrera Ramos is a Honduran lawyer residing in Taiwan.
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