Dozens of university student associations and student organizations across the country yesterday announced the establishment of an alliance to support the legalization of same-sex marriage, saying that the time is ripe for such a change to eliminate discrimination based on sexual orientation.
Citing the results of several public opinion polls conducted by various institutions in the past year, student representatives said at a press conference in front of the Legislative Yuan in Taipei that more than half of the respondents supported revising Article 972 of the Civil Code and legalizing same-sex marriage.
The latest poll on the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) campus showed that more than 90 percent of the respondents supported the amendment, NCKU student association president Hong Kuo-feng (洪國峰) said.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
“A lack of a consensus on the issue is just the government’s excuse,” Hong added.
People with different sexual orientations should be treated the same way by the law and enjoy the same rights, the alliance said.
The alliance in particular called on religious groups, the primary players in recent protests against the amendment, to stop their smear campaign against gays and lesbians, and same-sex marriage.
Promotional materials prepared by some religious groups have gone too far, linking incest, orgies and bestiality with same-sex marriage, a representative from National Taiwan University said.
The false accusations have misled the public about same-sex marriage, the alliance argued, adding that the legalization of same-sex marriage would not infringe upon the interests and rights of heterosexual families.
The alliance emphasized that it supports constructive and rational dialogue between all interested parties, rather than citing tradition and smearing homosexuals as reasons to oppose the amendment.
The alliance said it plans to promote awareness on campuses at universities nationwide, while urging young people to step forward and fight for the values they believe in.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
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