For Chi Chia-wei (祁家威), an imminent court decision that could make Taiwan the first place in Asia to recognize same-sex marriage is his greatest shot at justice after decades of tireless campaigning.
“It has been so long, my hair has gone gray,” said the 59-year-old Chi, who often appears in public draped in rainbow flags.
The celebrated advocate, who has led the nation’s gay rights movement for nearly 30 years, is to know on Wednesday next week whether his battle for marriage equality has been won when the Council of Grand Justices rules on his latest petition.
Photo: AFP
At the center of the case is a clause in the Civil Code which stipulates that an agreement to marry should be made between a man and a woman.
Chi wants the court to rule on whether that part of the code contravenes elements in the Constitution which guarantee equality and freedom of marriage.
The decision is binding, so a ruling in his favor would pave the way for same-sex unions to be legalized.
Chi says he is optimistic, but his excitement is tempered by the length of time it has taken to get this far.
“This should have happened long ago. It’s belated justice,” he said.
Chi is one of two petitioners bringing the case.
The other is the Taipei City Government, which is seeking clarification as authorities have been rejecting applications for same-sex marriages based on the Civil Code clause.
This time there is much more public momentum for change — in December last year, a pro-marriage equality rally drew 250,000 people, according to organizers, Chi said.
“It was just a one-man campaign when I started — now I have 250,000 people beside me. I am not alone in doing what is right,” Chi said.
He was raised by liberal-minded parents supportive of his sexual orientation, who encouraged him to fight for his beliefs. He came out to friends at high school and said he was surprised by how accepting they were.
After starting out as a rights advocate for people with HIV and AIDS, Chi became a full-time advocate for gay rights after meeting his partner 29 years ago.
However, while he might have had support from his family and peers, outspoken Chi has had numerous run-ins with the authorities.
In 1986, when the nation was still under martial law, Chi said he was imprisoned for five months after submitting his first petition asking for gay marriage to be recognized.
The charges linked him with a robbery and were entirely fabricated, he said.
Since then, his appeals for a change in the marriage law have been rejected by government agencies and courts, including a failed petition to the Council of Grand Justices in 2001.
“I was not discouraged by the setbacks. That is how I have been able to carry on for so long,” Chi said. “My belief is that if you can do one right thing in this life, it’s all worth it.”
A lack of support in the legislature has also stalled the gay marriage debate.
However, campaigners were given new hope when President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was elected last year and openly supported marriage equality.
With her Democratic Progressive Party in the majority, the Legislative Yuan passed the first draft of a bill to legalize gay marriage in December last year and it is due for a second reading later this year.
Chi said those who are against him accuse him of “spreading heresy” and attention-seeking.
They belittle his relationship with his partner, comparing it to children playing house, he says.
“I am not doing this for my own interests,” Chi said. “My partner and I are an old couple now and getting married is not a priority for us, but other gay couples need legal protection.”
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
Taiwan’s two cases of hantavirus so far this year are on par with previous years’ case numbers, and the government is coordinating rat extermination work, so there should not be any outbreaks, Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞) said today in an interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper). An increase in rat sightings in Taipei and New Taipei City has raised concerns about the spread of hantavirus, as rats can carry the disease. In January, a man in his 70s who lived in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) tested positive posthumously for hantavirus, Taiwan’s
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
RSS