On June 26, the US Supreme Court made two major rulings about same-sex marriage.
In the first case, the court ruled that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was a violation of the US Constitution because married homosexual couples are entitled to the same federal benefits as married heterosexual couples, including tax, health and retirement benefits.
In the second case, the court ruled that Proposition 8, a voter initiative in California that prohibits gay marriage in the state, was unconstitutional and that supporters of the ban lack the standing to challenge the US District Court’s judgment.
The two landmark rulings are a significant victory for the gay community and US President Barack Obama hailed them immediately, saying that the court “has righted a wrong, and our country is better off for it.”
But looking at gay rights in Taiwan, there is still a long road ahead. On the surface, the annual gay pride parades in big cities in recent years have created the image of a gay-friendly country, yet politicians’ support for gay rights is nothing but empty talk.
In 2003, former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) pledged to push for a law to allow gays and lesbians to have families and adopt children, but his administration took no action. President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) also pledged to promote gay rights, but his administration has also failed to deliver.
When Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) proposed a draft same-sex marriage law (同性婚姻法) in 2006, the bill was blocked by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) and other lawmakers. Lai is a close aide of Ma’s. Is the president saying one thing and doing another with regard to gay rights?
In contrast, Obama has contributed greatly to the gay rights movement. In 2011, he stopped defending the 1996 DOMA, concluding that it was “legally indefensible.” Even before the Supreme Court’s recent rulings, Obama expressed his support for gay marriage, becoming the first US president to do so.
“This was discrimination enshrined in law,” Obama said. “We are a people who declared that we are all created equal — and the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.”
Ma should take a lesson from his US counterpart. As gay marriage has been increasingly advocated by Obama and many celebrities, there has been a broad shift in public attitudes in the US. Today, most polls show that a majority of Americans support gay marriage. According to an ABC News-Washington Post poll conducted last month, about 55 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage, while about 40 percent did not.
In Taiwan, TVBS conducted a poll in April last year and found that 49 percent of Taiwanese support gay marriage and 29 percent do not. Among the respondents, 63 percent of people in their 20s, 52 percent of those in their 30s and 48 percent of those in their 40s supported gay marriage. The figures show gay marriage is now generally accepted by young and middle-aged Taiwanese.
To promote equal rights, the Taiwan Domestic Partner Task Force (台灣伴侶權益推動聯盟) is pushing to amend Part IV: Family and Part V: Succession of the Civil Code (民法親屬編, 繼承編) when the new legislative session begins in September.
Gay rights are human rights! Homosexuals pay taxes, perform military service, and fulfill all their social obligations, just like everybody else. They certainly deserve equal treatment.
Hopefully, the public and all political parties will be inspired by the US rulings, and will support the amendments to realize true equality in Taiwan.
Chang Sheng-en is an assistant professor of English at Shih Hsin University.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS