The Alliance for the Happiness of Future Generations, an anti-lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) group in which conservative Christians are a majority, has again launched a petition for a “marriage definition referendum” and last week submitted a proposal to the Central Election Commission.
The proposal calls for “a referendum on the definition of marriage,” yet its real purpose is to oppose the legalization of same-sex marriage.
To justify the legitimacy of its proposal, the alliance said in a news release that “holding a referendum is the exemplification of a democratic country and democracy is the pride of Taiwan.”
Using “democracy” to defend a referendum that is against same-sex marriage is to misunderstand the concept of democracy by erroneously simplifying it to mean “protest through the ballot box.” It also ignores that democratic politics should be founded upon the fundamentals of social equality and justice.
While holding referendums is an essential aspect of a democracy and public consensus plays a vital role in politics, understanding democracy as merely an exercise in majority rule is extremely dangerous. When dialogue cannot be conducted fairly, the rights of minority groups are easily compromised.
A referendum on the rights of minority groups would likely only reflect social prejudices rather than social justice.
This is exactly the case with the anti-LGBT alliance: They keep proposing referendums that are against same-sex marriage by manipulating the logic of majority rule to prevent LGBT people — who form a minority — from striving for equal civil rights.
About half a century ago, many US states still had laws that prohibited interracial marriage. It was not until the 1967 case of Loving versus Virginia that the US Supreme Court ruled marriage between white and black persons legal.
Yet, according to opinion polls at that time, no less than 70 percent of US citizens opposed interracial marriage. If a referendum had been held, the result might have produced a huge step backward for fundamental human rights in the US.
In the past few years, Taiwanese anti-LGBT groups have proposed a series of referendums that were opposed to same-sex marriage, while social campaign groups have repeatedly made it clear in response that issues of human rights should never be determined by casting votes.
Dealing with the rights of minority groups through referenda not only demonstrates a misunderstanding of democracy, but would also be an abuse of the referendum process which deprives society of opportunities to more proactively facilitate equality and social justice.
Last year, the Council of Grand Justices ruled in favor of social campaign groups in a constitutional interpretation on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage: “Homosexuals, due to demographic structure, have been a discrete and insular minority in society. Impacted by stereotypes, they have been among those lacking political power for a long time, unable to overturn their legally disadvantaged status through ordinary democratic process.”
Despite the council asserting gay people’s equal civil rights through a constitutional interpretation, anti-LGBT groups continue to promote a referendum.
These groups, with their strong religious backgrounds, will never give up, just as there are still racist extremists in the US, despite interracial marriage being legal for half a century.
Conservatives and prejudice will not disappear overnight, but the struggle for social justice and equality should never be compromised. Democracy does not exist to serve prejudice.
Jiang Ho-ching is a doctoral candidate in anthropology at American University in Washington.
Translated by Chang Ho-ming
A high-school student surnamed Yang (楊) gained admissions to several prestigious medical schools recently. However, when Yang shared his “learning portfolio” on social media, he was caught exaggerating and even falsifying content, and his admissions were revoked. Now he has to take the “advanced subjects test” scheduled for next month. With his outstanding performance in the general scholastic ability test (GSAT), Yang successfully gained admissions to five prestigious medical schools. However, his university dreams have now been frustrated by the “flaws” in his learning portfolio. This is a wake-up call not only for students, but also teachers. Yang did make a big
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) concludes his fourth visit to China since leaving office, Taiwan finds itself once again trapped in a familiar cycle of political theater. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has criticized Ma’s participation in the Straits Forum as “dancing with Beijing,” while the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) defends it as an act of constitutional diplomacy. Both sides miss a crucial point: The real question is not whether Ma’s visit helps or hurts Taiwan — it is why Taiwan lacks a sophisticated, multi-track approach to one of the most complex geopolitical relationships in the world. The disagreement reduces Taiwan’s
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is visiting China, where he is addressed in a few ways, but never as a former president. On Sunday, he attended the Straits Forum in Xiamen, not as a former president of Taiwan, but as a former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman. There, he met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Presumably, Wang at least would have been aware that Ma had once been president, and yet he did not mention that fact, referring to him only as “Mr Ma Ying-jeou.” Perhaps the apparent oversight was not intended to convey a lack of
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) last week announced that the KMT was launching “Operation Patriot” in response to an unprecedented massive campaign to recall 31 KMT legislators. However, his action has also raised questions and doubts: Are these so-called “patriots” pledging allegiance to the country or to the party? While all KMT-proposed campaigns to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have failed, and a growing number of local KMT chapter personnel have been indicted for allegedly forging petition signatures, media reports said that at least 26 recall motions against KMT legislators have passed the second signature threshold
RSS