Former vice president Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) call for the government to hit the brakes on amending the Civil Code for the sake of “an extremely small minority with a different sexual orientation” has drawn fire, with critics saying it showed a poor understanding of democracy.
Wu, a candidate in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) chairperson election on May 20, made the comments on Tuesday during a visit to several military dependents’ villages in Taoyuan’s Yangmei (楊梅), Jhongli (中壢) and Gueishan (龜山) districts.
When a supporter in Jhongli stopped him and urged him to pay more attention to the issue of same-sex marriage, Wu said that society needs to show respect to people who have a different sexual orientation by giving them space, but he does not support amending the Civil Code just for this minority.
Photo: Chen Yun, Taipei Times
The nation can work on legislating a specific act regulating same-sex marriages, he said, adding that amending the Civil Code would disrupt the lives of the majority and an ethical order that has been in place for centuries.
President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration should halt the proposed legislation immediately, he said.
Wu’s remarks drew a sharp reaction from Chen Fang-ming (陳芳明), a professor at National Chengchi University’s Graduate Institute of Taiwan Literature.
Chen said on Facebook yesterday that what Wu said showed that he was absolutely clueless about democracy.
“He is basically still living in the martial law era. The core concepts of democracy and human rights are equality and justice, not separating people,” he said.
“The nation has had three changes in government, but the KMT does not seem to have changed its ideas about politics and still thinks that government is meant to serve those with vested interests,” Chen said.
“Wu wants to halt the proposed legislation on same-sex marriages; what he does not know is that people have already stopped believing in the KMT. Should the party continue to promote its own vested interests, it would never become the ruling party again,” he said.
Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) on Tuesday said that while the office understands Wu’s needs to talk about issues for his campaign, he should seek to understand the matter first before saying anything.
Taiwan LGBT Family Rights Advocacy director Lu Yen-rong (呂嬿融) also disagreed with Wu, saying that homosexuals have the fundamental right to form their own families even though they are few in number.
“A majority of the people in this country believe in equality and justice, and they would not easily disregard the interests of the very few,” Lu said.
On the other hand, Alliance for the Happiness of Future Generations spokesperson Tseng Hsieh-ying (曾獻瑩) said that although the group believes in the protection of each person’s rights, one should consider the impact on children when discussing changing the definition of marriage.
She said that the government needs to conduct a full evaluation on the possibility of amending the Civil Code and then hold a referendum to allow the majority to make the final decision.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to