Taiwan Will be the Leading Asian Country to Legalize LGBTQ+ Marriage Equality

Throughout Asian mythological folklore, homosexuality and homosexual confrontations are referenced with mystical scenes set to celestial Chinese, Japanese, and Hindu deities amongst ferocious beasts to be slain.  For instance, Chinese mythology has been academically evaluated to have been influenced by Taoist and Confucian religious faiths, the instruction latterly incorporated into perspectives of Buddhism.  Not to mention Filipino folk tales, which depict a pre-colonial Philippines reflecting the god of war, Macanduc, and the god of death, Sidapa, each voyaging their footpaths for their unmistakable beloveds.

However, the LGBTQ+ tenderness of the divine was not translated unto ancient and modernized Asian cultural standpoints.  It was within the Zheng He epoch of 1111 to 1118 throughout the reign of the Song dynasty—principally, Emperor Zhao Ji—that the primeval, or earliest, decree denouncing homosexuality was introduced.  The emperor aggressed that, “Young males who act as prostitutes with a fine of [one hundred] blows with a heavy bamboo and a fine of [fifty thousand] cash.”

By the Jiajing era of 1522 to 1567, which wine and dined the extravagant throne of the Ming dynasty, Emperor Zhu Houcong had distinctly targeted LGBTQ+ males by prohibiting same-sex intercourse in a devised legal statute.

“By 1655, Courts of the Qing dynasty began to refer to the term ji jian (sodomy) to apply to homosexual anal intercourse. In 1679, the Qing dynasty instituted the first statute containing the term ji jian. The punishment, which included a month in prison and 100 heavy blows with heavy bamboo, was actually the lightest punishment which existed in the Qing legal system.”

In spite of the professedly timeless perseverance of the ji jian, China, fortunately, abolished the government’s forthright outlawing of it in the year of 1912.

Substantial LGBTQ+ progressivism throughout Western countries did not ensue until the beginning of the twenty-first century, when within October of 2003, Taiwan Executive Yuan, “—proposed legislation granting marriages and the right to adopt to same-sex couples under the Human Rights Basic Law; however it faced opposition among cabinet members (from Democratic Progressive Party) and legislators[.]”

Nevertheless, discrimination and prejudiced conduct with a foundation of an individual’s sexual orientation(s) throughout education and employment have been forbade statewide as of 2003 and 2007, respectively.

“In March 2010, the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China (Taiwan) announced that, starting from 2011, school textbooks would include topics on LGBT human rights and non-discrimination.  According to the Ministry, the reform seeks to ‘root out discrimination,’ since ‘students should be able to grow up happily in an environment of tolerance and respect.'”

A legion of activists and advocates for and of the LGBTQ+ community throughout Taiwan have additionally vocalized their rainbow pride to kindle awareness for the strides necessitated notwithstanding the advancements.

To illustrate, “In 2011, aiming to create awareness about same-sex marriage, about 80 lesbian couples held Taiwan’s biggest same-sex wedding party, attracting about [a thousand] friends, relatives and curious onlookers.”

Moreover, “In 2012, Taiwan’s first same-sex Buddhist wedding was held for Fish Huang and her partner You Ya-ting, with Buddhist master Shih Chao-hui presiding over the ritual.”

Asian history was fulfilled in 2015 upon a mammoth—in fact, the uttermost abundant in Asia at its entirety, totaling at eighty thousand participants—LGBTQ+ pride parade within Taiwan.

As of May 13th, 2016, the Health Bureau of the Taichung City Government pronounced the debarment, or prohibition, of conversion therapy in Taichung medical institutions, the practice by any and all assemblies of persons being recognized as an explicit violation of the Physicians Act and the Psychologists Act.

“Taichung’s [Gender Equality Committee] is currently making a request to the Ministry of Health and Welfare to make the new rule applicable nationwide, so as to eliminate the treatment.”

Mercifully, the bright-eyed headway for Taiwan does not cease there.  Reportedly, on November 10th, 2016, Taiwanese parliament is primed to legalize same-sex marriage with three bills nationwide, potentially appointing it as the first Asian country to pass same-sex marriage equality legislature.

“President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female head of state, said as recently as October she supported same-sex marriage. […] Yu Mei-nu, a ruling Democratic Progressive Party MP who is sponsoring the same-sex marriage bill now in line for parliamentary debate, said it would be a big step forward for human rights in the region […] ‘If Taiwan can get this passed … it will give other Asian countries a model.'”

In 2015, Taiwan administered an internet polling system that enabled the population to weigh in with respect to their approaches to LGBTQ+ equality.  The finalized results were astounding, revealing that fifty-nine percent of respondents approved of legislation for “marriage-like relations”, with seventy-one percent wholly advocating for same-sex marriage.

“Su [Shan, a thirty five-year old software engineer in Taipei], said she and her partner, also [thirty-five], find little sign of such concerns among the people they meet. Most Taiwanese are highly accepting of their relationship and their right to raise children, she says.

‘We go to the market with our kids and people say ‘how cute,’ she said. ‘When they find there are two mamas, they feel intrigued. Maybe they have seen news about this type of family but don’t have friends near them who are doing it.'”

Although the LGBTQ+ community has experienced unutterable hardships and wretchedness nose-to-nose with ignorance and intolerance, the previous fifteen years—with reference to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC)—are evidentiary that unadulterated change can prevail should we rise to meet it.

To Canada, Colombia, Ireland, the United States of America, Belgium, Spain, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Argentina, Iceland, Portugal, Denmark, Brazil, the United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, Uruguay, Luxembourg, Scotland, and Finland: thank you for your pride, even if it is not invariably glaring in its essence.

To Taiwan: shall you acquaint yourselves with love soon, for love wins—every time.