Public support for same-sex marriage almost doubled from 2018, the year before it was legally recognized, a survey released today by the Executive Yuan showed.
Among those polled, 69.9 percent said they support the legalization of same-sex marriage, up from 37.4 percent in 2018, the report of the Executive Yuan’s annual public survey showed.
The survey also found that 78 percent of respondents agreed that same-sex families should have the right to adopt children, up more than 1 percentage point from last year, while 78.4 percent said that they could raise children just as well as heterosexual couples.
Photo: Liu Hsin-te, Taipei Times
Public support of same-sex marriage and adoption rights is gradually increasing, as is acceptance of transgender people and overall gender equality awareness, the survey showed.
The Executive Yuan’s Gender Equality Committee conducts annual telephone surveys to gauge public opinion on matters concerning gender equality, marriage and family life, and LGBTQ+ and transgender rights.
The survey reflected increased inclusion and respect of transgender people in society, with 91.5 percent of those surveyed saying they would accept a transgender colleague, a figure that has reached more than 90 percent in the past three annual surveys, the committee said.
Of the respondents, 76.2 percent agreed that transgender people should dress however they feel most comfortable at school or in the workplace, while 57.2 percent said they would feel comfortable sharing public restrooms with transgender people, the survey found.
However, the survey revealed mixed opinions as to whether transgender people should be able to change their personal identification documents.
Among those polled, 59.3 percent said that trans and non-binary people should have the right to choose a “third gender” on their identity documents, but only 40.6 percent agreed that trans people should be able to change the gender marker on their identity documents without undergoing gender-affirming surgery, down from 47.4 percent last year, the survey found.
This year’s survey revealed an increase in public awareness and education regarding sexual harassment prevention, the committee said.
Of those surveyed, 93.4 percent agreed that if a woman says “no” verbally, but does not physically object, it still counts as sexual harassment or assault.
Moreover, 94.1 percent of respondents said they would report to their company if a colleague had been sexually harassed.
In further steps toward gender equality, 94.7 percent of those surveyed did not agree that “women are not suited to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics,” while 89.5 percent agreed that “men and women are equally suited to be top executives.”
Meanwhile, 96.3 percent of respondents agreed that household decisions are the shared responsibility of men and women.
However, 58.3 percent of those surveyed said that women are more suited to raising children than men, a figure that has remained above 50 percent for the past three years due to stereotypes and traditional beliefs, the committee said.
The survey targeted adults over the age of 20 and was conducted using computer-assisted telephone interviewing from April 24 to 28. There were 1,077 responses with a margin of error of 2.99 percentage points.
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