Following the Council of Grand Justices’ Constitutional Interpretation No. 748 on May 24 last year, the Democratic Progressive Party government has not proposed a corresponding draft law and has refused to explain the spirit and direction of the draft.
The government’s hesitation encouraged anti-LGBT religious groups, who took advantage of last year’s amendments to the Referendum Act (公民投票法), which significantly lowered requirements, to initiate three illegal and unconstitutional referendums in March.
The first referendum questions proposed by the anti-LGBT camp were: “Do you agree that marriage should be restricted to the union between one man and one woman?” and “On the premise that the definition of marriage as a union between one man and one woman remains unchanged, do you agree that the rights of two persons of the same sex to permanent cohabitation together should be guaranteed in a law other than the Civil Code?”
They were blatantly trying to block the requirements in Constitutional Interpretation No. 748 that the authorities must within two years from the interpretation’s announcement amend or enact laws to implement “equal protection of the freedom of marriage.”
In the end, the Central Election Commission (CEC) demanded that the questions be changed, and so the proposer added the words “Civil Code,” changing the question to: “Do you agree that the Civil Code should define marriage as the union between a man and a woman?”
This was nothing but an administrative expedient.
The CEC knew that the proposer of the referendum nonsensically stated that “it is not necessary to use the word ‘marriage’ to refer to marriage freedom,” but still approved the proposal.
The anti-LGBT proposer knew that the amended referendum question was only about restricting “marriage” as defined in the Civil Code, yet they still used the initial version of the question in an attempt to brainwash Taiwan and mislead people into believing that as long as they voted yes, “marriage” could be restricted to one man and one woman.
This highly controversial referendum on April 17 passed the first stage of the CEC review. In the following months, the anti-LGBT camp spent hundreds of millions of New Taiwan dollars on distorting LGBT people’s right to marriage equality, by calling it a “same-sex union” and “same-sex cohabitation.”
The Executive Yuan’s position paper is clear: “The Constitution guarantees people of the same sex the right to marry. This has been confirmed by Constitutional Interpretation No. 748, and it will not be changed due to the results of this referendum.”
However, society has been brainwashed by the anti-LGBT camp, and even the most fundamental component of the constitutional order, that a law must not contravene the Constitution, is being denounced by the anti-LGBT camp for disrespecting public opinion.
People who are brainwashed behave as if they have been bitten by zombies — panic spreads and even the most basic common sense is thrown out the window.
In response to this referendum, which was wrong from the very beginning, the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights immediately filed a lawsuit. After it was dismissed, the alliance filed an administrative lawsuit. A referendum cannot be held on a basic human right — this is a fundamental component of the constitutional order.
The alliance regrets that the LGBT community has become the first group to be oppressed and exploited by Taiwan’s referendums, and hopes that the judiciary will defend democratic constitutionalism and revoke these three referendums.
The alliance also hopes that the ruling party will learn from the bitter election losses and understand that at least 3 million people pursue equality and are willing to back the ruling party and support a draft bill that meets the requirements of the grand justices’ ruling.
In the past few months, the anti-LGBT camp has pumped hundreds of millions of NT dollars into inciting fear and prejudice against the LGBT community. This has caused unbearable suffering and humiliation for the gay community.
Hopefully Taiwanese society will be able to engage in profound reflection, and democracy will not be abused again to allow the majority to harm minority groups.
Chien Chih-chieh is secretary-general of the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
There are moments in history when America has turned its back on its principles and withdrawn from past commitments in service of higher goals. For example, US-Soviet Cold War competition compelled America to make a range of deals with unsavory and undemocratic figures across Latin America and Africa in service of geostrategic aims. The United States overlooked mass atrocities against the Bengali population in modern-day Bangladesh in the early 1970s in service of its tilt toward Pakistan, a relationship the Nixon administration deemed critical to its larger aims in developing relations with China. Then, of course, America switched diplomatic recognition
The international women’s soccer match between Taiwan and New Zealand at the Kaohsiung Nanzih Football Stadium, scheduled for Tuesday last week, was canceled at the last minute amid safety concerns over poor field conditions raised by the visiting team. The Football Ferns, as New Zealand’s women’s soccer team are known, had arrived in Taiwan one week earlier to prepare and soon raised their concerns. Efforts were made to improve the field, but the replacement patches of grass could not grow fast enough. The Football Ferns canceled the closed-door training match and then days later, the main event against Team Taiwan. The safety
The National Immigration Agency on Tuesday said it had notified some naturalized citizens from China that they still had to renounce their People’s Republic of China (PRC) citizenship. They must provide proof that they have canceled their household registration in China within three months of the receipt of the notice. If they do not, the agency said it would cancel their household registration in Taiwan. Chinese are required to give up their PRC citizenship and household registration to become Republic of China (ROC) nationals, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said. He was referring to Article 9-1 of the Act
The Chinese government on March 29 sent shock waves through the Tibetan Buddhist community by announcing the untimely death of one of its most revered spiritual figures, Hungkar Dorje Rinpoche. His sudden passing in Vietnam raised widespread suspicion and concern among his followers, who demanded an investigation. International human rights organization Human Rights Watch joined their call and urged a thorough investigation into his death, highlighting the potential involvement of the Chinese government. At just 56 years old, Rinpoche was influential not only as a spiritual leader, but also for his steadfast efforts to preserve and promote Tibetan identity and cultural
RSS