gay marriage in Taiwan

140,000 March For 2018 Taiwan Pride, But Challenges Still Remain For Efforts To Realize Marriage Equality

Brian Hioe
The 16th annual pride parade took place today in Taipei, drawing an claimed 140,000 participants, which would be a new record. This year’s pride parade would be a politically charged event, seeing as a referendum on gay marriage is set to take place next month during elections on November 24th, and this question loomed over the event... Read More
EnglishGender/SexualityOctober 2018Social Movements1 Comment 09 min read

What Happens If Marriage Equality Gets Voted Down By Referendum?

Brian Hioe
Many uncertainties remain for efforts to realize marriage equality in Taiwan, with the approval of multiple referendums on marriage equality and sexual education. Two referendums, pushed for by marriage equality supporters, have phrasing favorable to the legalization of marriage equality and have reached the necessary benchmarks to be held. On the other hand, referendums with phrasing unfavorable to gay marriage and sexual education have also reached necessary benchmarks to be held, as pushed for by anti-gay groups... Read More
EnglishGender/SexualityOctober 2018Social Movements0 Comments 05 min read

Are Progressive Civil Society Outgunned By The KMT And Anti-Gay Groups In Referendum Efforts?

Brian Hioe
The referendum will soon become a highly contested political battleground in Taiwan, with a number of ongoing referendum initiatives likely to qualify for making it onto the ballot in 2018 elections, At this juncture, one can also venture a number of preliminary observations about what the effects of referendum reform in Taiwan have been... Read More
August 2018EnglishPolitics1 Comment 08 min read

Referendum Against Gay Marriage Reaches Necessary Threshold

Brian Hioe
With the Central Election Commission announcing that a referendum against same-sex marriage pushed for by anti-gay groups has passed the necessary threshold for a referendum to be held, shock and anger has broken out in Taiwan. However, in itself, it may not be too surprising that anti-gay groups were able to achieve reaching this referendum... Read More
#21April 2018EnglishGender/SexualitySocial Movements4 Comments 08 min read

Conservative Forces On The Move Behind Huang Kuo-Chang’s Recall Vote?

Brian Hioe
While LGBTQ organizations in Taiwan such as the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline have publicly stated that the recall vote recently faced by NPP chair Huang Kuo-Chang should be a wake-up call for LGBTQ groups in Taiwan, as a reminder of the fact that they remain opposed by a number of socially conservative forces, this also raises a question worth considering. Was it, in fact, anti-gay marriage groups which were the primary force behind the recall vote against Huang? Ultimately, even if the recall vote did not succeed, what one finds in examining the social forces behind the recall vote is that the NPP may have been outgunned from the beginning by conservative social forces... Read More
December 2017EnglishPolitics0 Comments 09 min read

Huang Kuo-Chang Survives Recall Vote, But What Now?

Brian Hioe
Huang Kuo-Chang has survived the recall vote organized against him by anti-gay marriage groups in his electoral district of New Taipei 12. Nevertheless, this was by the recall vote not meeting the necessary benchmark to pass, and the amount of voters who voted in favor of the recall were greater than those that voted against it. What now for the NPP, then?... Read More
December 2017EnglishSocial MovementsYouth Movements0 Comments 110 min read