There was a time when former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was a “dream date” for gay men. Under Ma’s mayorship in the early 2000s, Taipei became the first city in Asia to use public funds for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) events. He also took part in several Taiwan LGBT Pride Parades, promising to protect the community’s rights should he be elected president.
“The existence of LGBT people is a symbol of cultural diversity … The LGBT rights issue is a human rights issue,” Ma said at the 2007 parade during his presidential campaign. “They should be respected by the majority, and should not be discriminated against or bullied.”
But little progress was made during Ma’s eight-year presidency. With his stepping down last month, it is time to examine his administration’s (mis)handling of LGBT issues. Hopefully, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) will learn from its failures.
Photo: CNA
Ma served concurrently as the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman during his rule. He could have kept his original promise by passing the draft bill for marriage equality (婚姻平權) with the KMT’s legislative majority. But he remained silent, allowing the KMT caucus to repeatedly block the draft bill proposed by some Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers.
A draft bill becomes invalid if it does not pass a second and third reading by the final legislative session of a four-year term — and because of that, LGBT activists have to restart the whole legislation process all over again.
A PASSIVE CABINET
Just like the legislative branch, the judicial branch discriminated against LGBT people. All four grand justices nominated by Ma last year were strongly opposed to same-sex marriage. Instead of taking a proactive stance, the Ministry of Justice merely held several opinion polls on same-sex marriage.
Last year’s poll showed that 59 percent of Taiwanese support legal protection for same-sex couples, with 71 percent supporting a same-sex marriage act. Despite majority support, the ministry failed to take action. Instead, it simply filed a report to the legislature, stating that same-sex marriage was “an ethical violation of human relations.”
The Ministry of Education did not do much better in terms of taking action. Despite the ministry’s establishment of the Gender Equity Education Committee, it was slammed by various LGBT rights organizations for repeatedly appointing anti-gay Christian activists and homophobic academics as committee members.
When religious groups tried to spread hatred against homosexuality at schools, directly and indirectly, the ministry either ignored the problem or issued verbal warnings without actual punishment. Some universities, such as Fu Jen Catholic University, are still banning students from establishing LGBT student clubs.
Other government agencies such as the Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Health and Welfare also did absolutely nothing in recent years. Their position is that society must reach a “consensus” on the issue before taking action.
HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION
Even Ma himself changed his stance and gave the LGBT community the cold shoulder during his presidency. He pledged to protect human rights when signing the UN’s International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2009. But it appears that his administration followed the two UN covenants selectively.
In 2013, when a group of human rights academics conducted a review of Taiwan’s implementation of the two covenants, they expressed concern over the lack of legal recognition of family diversity.
“Only heterosexual marriages are recognized but not same-sex marriages or cohabiting partnerships,” the academics said. “This is discriminatory and denies many benefits to couples of same sex or cohabiting partners.”
Of particular concern was Taiwan’s method of using public surveys to decide whether or not to recognize marriage equality.
“The government has an obligation to fulfill the human rights of all people, and not make such fulfillment contingent on public opinion,” the academics wrote.
They suggested that the Civil Code be amended to give legal recognition of family diversity. They also suggested that the Ma administration push for gender equality as well as gender diversity awareness and education.
Meanwhile, the Ma administration continued to turn its back on the two covenants by allowing anti-gay activists and academics to hijack education reform and by handling the issue through polls.
A ROUGH START
Compared to Ma, Tsai seems relatively LGBT-friendly. Although she failed to step up and safeguard LGBT rights during her terms as vice premier and DPP chairperson, she appeared to have eventually changed her views during her presidential campaign and started expressing support for same-sex marriage.
Despite this, Tsai offended the LGBT community by inviting Next TV talk show host Peng Wen-cheng (彭文正) to co-host her inauguration party on May 20.
Peng and his wife, anchorwoman Amanda Lee (李晶玉), are supporters of the anti-gay campaign launched by the Alliance of Taiwan Religious Groups for the Protection of the Family (護家盟), and are known to be strongly opposed to legalizing same-sex marriage.
“Just three days after International Day Against Homophobia on May 17… Is it appropriate to have an anti-gay activist hosting Tsai’s inauguration party that reflects her administration’s stance and values?” questioned Yen Chueh-an (顏厥安), a professor with the Human Rights and Jurisprudence Center at National Taiwan University.
Tsai is often described as “a female version of Ma” (女版馬英九), who is sometimes indecisive and lacks the determination to act. With the DPP’s legislative majority, will she keep her promise and build her legacy on marriage equality?
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