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News > World

Amid Societal Resistance,Taiwan's LGBT Community Continues to Struggle For Equal Marriage Rights

  • Participants hold rainbow umbrellas during a rally to demanding the Taiwanese government to legalize same-sex marriage in front of the ruling Nationalist Kuomintang Party headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan, July 11, 2015.

    Participants hold rainbow umbrellas during a rally to demanding the Taiwanese government to legalize same-sex marriage in front of the ruling Nationalist Kuomintang Party headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan, July 11, 2015. | Photo: Reuters

Published 26 June 2018
Opinion

To continue building pressure on the government, the coalition will keep partnering with rights groups and government agencies from other countries. 

Taiwan's Constitutional Court decided to recognize same-sex unions in May 2017 becoming the first Asian region to legalize same-sex marriage, yet the region's LGBT community continues to struggle in the face of resistance from the Taiwanese society. 

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Per the court's ruling, Taiwanese authorities were granted two years to either amend the existing marriage laws or enact a new legislation, but to date no decision has been made.  

On the contrary, the anti-LGBT rights groups have made gains. In April, three anti-marriage equality referenda were passed by the Central Election Committee, a coalition of conservative and pro-status quo groups who argue that it is the public, not the court that should decide on the matter. 

The regressive stance over the issue in the country has pushed Taiwan's pro-marriage equality coalition, the Marriage Equality Platform (MEP), to look for international solidarity. 

Jennifer Lu, the MEP's general coordinator, told Deutsche Welle that regular exchanges with marriage equality organizations in the United States, Ireland and Australia have helped the coalition learn how to communicate their agenda to a wider audience.

Part of the new strategy is to connect with the audiences on a personal level. "The new strategy would have been considered too conservative by LGBTQ activists in the past," Lu told Deutsche Welle.  

"The public discussions have created momentum for the growing understanding of who gay people are and why marriage equality matters," said Evan Wolfson, the founder of Freedom to Marry and a long-time LGBTQ rights activist in the United States, Deutsche Welle, DW, reported. 

"It also helped build support for the fulfillment of democratic guarantees that is important to all people in Taiwan."

"They would have preferred to clearly explain the core values of the movement to the general public, but our experiences in the past few years have helped us realize that it is a more idealistic way of organizing social movements. The new strategy is an important lesson that we've learned from other foreign organizations, and we will try to apply it to the referenda that we are planning," Lu added. 

To continue building pressure on the government, the coalition will keep partnering with rights groups and government agencies from other countries, Lu stated. 

"I think these plans can help greatly enhance Taiwan's international visibility while letting Taiwanese society realize legalizing marriage equality can enhance Taiwan's international status," Lu told DW.  

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