For Chi Chia-wei (祁家威), an imminent court decision that could make Taiwan the first place in Asia to recognize same-sex marriage is his greatest shot at justice after decades of tireless campaigning.
“It has been so long, my hair has gone gray,” said the 59-year-old Chi, who often appears in public draped in rainbow flags.
The celebrated advocate, who has led the nation’s gay rights movement for nearly 30 years, is to know on Wednesday next week whether his battle for marriage equality has been won when the Council of Grand Justices rules on his latest petition.
Photo: AFP
At the center of the case is a clause in the Civil Code which stipulates that an agreement to marry should be made between a man and a woman.
Chi wants the court to rule on whether that part of the code contravenes elements in the Constitution which guarantee equality and freedom of marriage.
The decision is binding, so a ruling in his favor would pave the way for same-sex unions to be legalized.
Chi says he is optimistic, but his excitement is tempered by the length of time it has taken to get this far.
“This should have happened long ago. It’s belated justice,” he said.
Chi is one of two petitioners bringing the case.
The other is the Taipei City Government, which is seeking clarification as authorities have been rejecting applications for same-sex marriages based on the Civil Code clause.
This time there is much more public momentum for change — in December last year, a pro-marriage equality rally drew 250,000 people, according to organizers, Chi said.
“It was just a one-man campaign when I started — now I have 250,000 people beside me. I am not alone in doing what is right,” Chi said.
He was raised by liberal-minded parents supportive of his sexual orientation, who encouraged him to fight for his beliefs. He came out to friends at high school and said he was surprised by how accepting they were.
After starting out as a rights advocate for people with HIV and AIDS, Chi became a full-time advocate for gay rights after meeting his partner 29 years ago.
However, while he might have had support from his family and peers, outspoken Chi has had numerous run-ins with the authorities.
In 1986, when the nation was still under martial law, Chi said he was imprisoned for five months after submitting his first petition asking for gay marriage to be recognized.
The charges linked him with a robbery and were entirely fabricated, he said.
Since then, his appeals for a change in the marriage law have been rejected by government agencies and courts, including a failed petition to the Council of Grand Justices in 2001.
“I was not discouraged by the setbacks. That is how I have been able to carry on for so long,” Chi said. “My belief is that if you can do one right thing in this life, it’s all worth it.”
A lack of support in the legislature has also stalled the gay marriage debate.
However, campaigners were given new hope when President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was elected last year and openly supported marriage equality.
With her Democratic Progressive Party in the majority, the Legislative Yuan passed the first draft of a bill to legalize gay marriage in December last year and it is due for a second reading later this year.
Chi said those who are against him accuse him of “spreading heresy” and attention-seeking.
They belittle his relationship with his partner, comparing it to children playing house, he says.
“I am not doing this for my own interests,” Chi said. “My partner and I are an old couple now and getting married is not a priority for us, but other gay couples need legal protection.”
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit
RSS