Same-sex marriage – Taiwan Insight

Campaign Launched To Remove Limits On Transnational Gay Marriage In Taiwan

14 May 2020 Editor

Written by Brian Hioe. The bill to legalize gay marriage cleared its third reading on May 17th, 2019, with gay marriage becoming legal on May 24th. However, there were some gaps in the scope of the bill. If a Taiwanese person wishes to marry a foreigner of the same sex, that foreigner must be from a country that has also legalized gay marriage. Likewise, foreign same-sex couples are not able to get married in Taiwan if one of them is from a country that has not legalized gay marriage. To this extent, same-sex couples who both come from countries that have not legalized gay marriage cannot get married in Taiwan.

The public’s view on same-sex marriage legalisation

5 February 2020 Editor

Written by Timothy Rich, Isabel Eliassen, Andi Dahmer and Carolyn Brueggemann. We ask to what extent has the public’s view on same-sex marriage changed in recent years and to what extent this influenced the 2020 election? The 2018 local elections clearly indicated a shift in the political saliency of the issue of same-sex marriage legislation over the past several years, while Tsai’s re-election with a continued Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative majority would suggest that opposition to the issue has declined in salience.

How Will Conservative Backlash to Same-Sex Marriage Impact Tsai Ing-wen’s Chances for Re-Election?

5 January 2020 Editor

Written by Jens Damm. I argue that Taiwanese society’s movement towards the acceptance of human rights as global values, multiculturalism, the rights of individuals etc. is intrinsically linked to the development of a Taiwanese identity (based what Habermas called a Verfassungspatriotismus) as used to assert Taiwan’s international status. Taiwanese LGBTQ rights could thus act as a signifier of Taiwan’s democratisation with the aim of achieving soft power and opposing any form of a ‘one China policy’.

Same-Sex Marriage as Protection of Minority Rights in Taiwan

25 June 2019 Editor

Written by Ibtisam Ahmed. Pride season in 2019 has brought some extraordinary victories for the global LGBTQ+ community. Bhutan is on the cusp of decriminalising homosexuality after an overwhelming vote in the lower house repealed its anti-sodomy law. The judiciary in Botswana has overturned a colonial-era penal code clause that criminalised homosexuality, continuing the recent trend of queer liberation through decolonisation. Ecuador has become the latest South American country to recognise same-sex marriage.

Taiwan Pride: Our Fight For Marriage Equality

20 June 2019 Editor

Written by Mei-Nu Yu and Yiching Yang. We passed the law on 17 May – the International Day Against Homophobia. Taiwan has proven that we are a country supporting diversity and gender equality, and we are now the first country in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage.

What Happened to Taiwan’s Support for Same-Sex Marriage?

22 February 2019 Editor

Written by Tim Rich, Isabel Eliassen and Andi Dahmer. Despite signs of LGBT support in Taiwan, many analysts and commentators ignored the number of Taiwanese who had no set opinion on same-sex marriage and LGBT rights and overlooked the role that issue-framing plays in political contests.

LGBT issues in 2019

11 February 2019 Editor

While many DPP supporters of same-sex marriage and LGBT rights more broadly (e.g. legislator Yu Mei-Nu) spoke out in favour of legalization, in large part they lacked a clear message that would appeal to the otherwise indifferent, making the job easier for anti-LGBT groups.