Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) groups and more than 2000 demonstrators assembled outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday to urge lawmakers to make Taiwan the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriage.
Led by a coalition of LGBT advocates from the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR) and other groups, the demonstrators demanded that the “Marriage Equality Amendment” be applied to the Civil Code by the end of the current legislative session in December.
The rally followed a month-long campaign by the groups to get legislators to publicize their stance on same-sex marriage and took on a jubilant tone, with colorful banners draped across a stage on Qingdao E Road next to the Legislative Yuan and large rainbow flags flying from the rooftops of buildings nearby.
Photo: CNA
At one point, demonstrators danced in unison to a satirical techno remix of homophobic remarks made by Kuo Mei-chiang (郭美江), a Christian pastor who gained notoriety among netizens after characterizing homosexuality as “an interpretation of witchcraft” in a sermon last year.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) attended the event to show her support.
As convener of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, Yu vowed to organize public hearings for the cause this month, while also restating her wish to place the amendment on the committee’s agenda during her term as convener.
Photo: Reuters
DPP legislators Tuan Yi-kang (段宜康) and Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) also attended the event. Along with Yu, the three lawmakers unlocked “locks of homophobia” attached to the fences outside the legislature by the activists in a symbolic gesture to promote understanding.
Approval at committee stage is required before the amendment can be voted on at the legislature’s plenary session.
LGBT activists see a “difficult battle” ahead, as DPP members are outnumbered nine to four in the committee by their Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) counterparts.
Out of the 112 total legislators, the movement has secured the support of 15 DPP and four KMT lawmakers, as well as of two legislators from smaller parties.
Notably, some legislators who had previously been against same-sex marriage have agreed to support legislative deliberation for the amendment, including KMT lawmakers Ting Shou-Chung (丁守中) and Chi Kuo-tung (紀國棟).
Legislation to legalize same-sex marriage in Taiwan has already experienced several failed attempts.
Clashes occurred when opposing rallies for and against gay marriage took to the streets on the same day in November last year.
As of last year, public support for same-sex marriage has grown to 53 percent, while 37 percent of Taiwanese are opposed to it, according to a poll jointly conducted by TAPCPR and Academia Sinica.
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
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
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
RSS