[The law could give the DPP and President Tsai Ing-wen a boost ahead of a presidential election in January. Gay rights advocates have long criticized the ruling party for failing to pass legislation sooner, but these concerns were largely absent amid the mood of optimism at Friday’s rally.]
By
Nick Aspinwall
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A
woman weeps with joy after Taiwan's legislature voted to legalize same-sex
marriage on
Friday in Taipei. (Carl Court/Getty Images)
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TAIPEI,
Taiwan — Thousands of
marriage-equality advocates celebrated Friday in the pouring rain outside
Taiwan’s legislature as it voted to become the first in Asia to fully legalize
same-sex unions.
The law — which allows for same-sex couples
to apply for “marriage registration” as part of “exclusive permanent unions” —
came a week before Taiwan’s codes barring same-sex marriage would have been
automatically dropped by court order.
Lawmakers had faced pressure from both LGBT
groups demanding sweeping reforms and religious groups and others opposing the
changes. Friday’s 66-27 vote recognizes same-sex marriages and gives couples
many of the tax, insurance and child custody benefits available to male-female
married couples.
Taiwan’s high court ruled on May 24, 2017,
that barring same-sex couples from marrying violates the Taiwanese constitution
and gave the legislature two years to pass a corresponding law or see same-sex
marriage become legalized automatically.
The process frequently stalled amid
conservative opposition. But in November 2018, Taiwan voted in a public
referendum to deny same-sex couples full marriage rights.
Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party
(DPP) responded by submitting legislation designed to comply with both the
court ruling and the referendum result. Two competing bills that would be less
favorable to the gay community were submitted, but they failed to gain
traction.
The law could give the DPP and President Tsai
Ing-wen a boost ahead of a presidential election in January. Gay rights advocates
have long criticized the ruling party for failing to pass legislation sooner,
but these concerns were largely absent amid the mood of optimism at Friday’s
rally.
Chi Chia-wei, a gay rights activist for more
than 30 years, said he was “very, very happy” to see Taiwan legalize same-sex
marriage, calling the process “a strong demonstration of our democratic
spirit.”
Friday’s legislation brought a wave of
euphoria over a large crowd outside Taiwan’s legislature. Many attendees
arrived in buses from outlying cities and stood under umbrellas in a torrential
downpour as legislators voted on the articles that would make up Asia’s first
same-sex marriage legislation.
The law ensures that Taiwan would stand as an
example for Asia’s LGBT community. Thailand has proposed a law to recognize
civil partnerships, but same-sex unions remain illegal elsewhere in Asia.
Jay Lin, chief executive of Portico Media and
a gay father of two children, called the law a “beacon of hope” for Asia’s gay
community. “I’m very glad that I’m living in Taiwan and I’m a beneficiary of
these new laws,” he said.
In neighboring China — which asserts
sovereignty over Taiwan — popular LGBTQ microblogs were censored online in the
wake of Taiwan’s 2017 high court ruling. The social media platform Weibo was
criticized last month for restricting LGBTQ hashtags.
Taiwan has shown that “traditional culture is
not against LGBT culture,” said Jennifer Lu, coordinator of the rights group
Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan. “That’s the message we want to send to the
world.”
Before Friday’s vote, legislators in Taiwan’s
opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party had rallied to promote a bill that would not
define same-sex unions as “marriages.” On Thursday evening, the DPP amended its
draft legislation to remove references to “same-sex marriages” while ensuring
that same-sex couples would nonetheless be allowed to register marriages.
Tsai, the president, voiced her support of
the legislation in a Twitter post, saying that Friday marked “a chance to make
history and show the world that progressive values can take root in an Asian
society.”
The ruling DPP holds 68 of the 113 seats in
Taiwan’s legislature. Tsai’s premier and the party’s caucus whip had worked
relentlessly over the past week to secure enough support for the legislation to
pass.
Hundreds of couples have already registered
to marry on May 24, the deadline set by the high court, but they have not known
exactly what rights they would be afforded as newly married couples.
Taiwan’s new law grants same-sex couples the
right to marry outside its civil code, which governs marriage rights for
heterosexual couples. This was done to comply with the 2017 court ruling as
well as the November 2018 referendum, in which voters decided that the civil
code should restrict marriage to being between a man and a woman.
KMT legislators had called for Taiwan to
respect the referendum results by voting in favor of an alternative bill that
would limit same-sex unions to “familiar relationships” and would not consider
same-sex partners to be spouses.
A third bill, proposed by DPP legislator Lin
Tai-hua, contained a controversial clause that would allow family members to
request that a same-sex union be annulled.
Gay rights advocates have called for full
adoption rights for same-sex couples, who are barred from adopting non-blood
relatives under the new law.
An amendment proposed by the New Power Party
(NPP), a minor political party aligned most closely with the DPP, would have
allowed Taiwanese nationals to enter same-sex unions with partners from
countries that do not recognize same-sex marriage. It was rejected by DPP
legislators.
Lu said the law represents a major step
forward for Taiwan’s gay community, especially considering the strong
conservative backlash to the 2017 high court decision. “I think the result is
an accomplishment at this stage,” she said. “But we will keep on fighting for
full marriage rights.”
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