Gay rights in taiwan
The state of LGBTQ+ rights in Taiwan and China
A rainy daytime at the end of October was turned into a joyful one as people sporting shiny colours and rainbow flags populated the streets for Taiwan’s LGBTQ+ Pride Parade. The parade, whose theme this year was ‘An Unlimited Future,’ aiming to pause down the walls of sexual and gender oppression, attracted an estimated , participants.
Taiwan made history in when it became the first Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage, following the Constitutional Court’s ruling that the existing marriage law was unconstitutional. "It took 20 years for Taiwan to hold one of the largest LGBT marches in East Asia," said the Taiwanese president Tsai Ying Wen. "It is now normal for Taiwanese to choose whom to marry."
However, the ruling has not granted occupied rights to LGBTQ+ individuals. Many social inequalities remain to be addressed, such as granting parental rights to non-blood related children, international marriages for same-sex couples and marriage rights for transgender individuals. Although one ruling by a district court this year w
Written by Uma Baron.
Image credit: Taiwan Pride P 22 (cropped) by KOKUYO/Wikimedia Commons, license: CC BY-SA DEED.
Taiwan has long been recognised as an international beacon for LGBTQ+ rights. The year before Taiwan’s Supreme Court issued its landmark judgement on marriage equality, , people flocked to Taipei to attend its Pride parade. The adoption of marriage equality in May further accentuated Taiwan’s global status as a liberal, open democracy. Four years on from the judgement, attendance numbers at Taipei Pride reached almost ,, distinguishing it as Asia’s biggest Pride parade. Since , tongzhi (同志, meaning LGBTQ+ identifying)equality in Taiwan has expanded, with former limitations on transnational same-sex marriage recognition and same-sex adoption for non-related children being rescinded in January and May , respectively. While Taiwan continues to struggle to maintain its visibility in international politics on international human rights issues, such as LGBTQ+ equality, Taiwan has become an expert at utilising its soft power to become a global paragon of democratic
Human Rights
Why Taiwan is the Most Progressive Place for LGBTQ Rights in AsiaCurrent Challenges - Assisted Reproduction and Joint Adoption
With increased acceptance of same-sex marriage, Taiwan now faces new challenges in assisted reproduction and joint adoption. These topics remain in the media spotlight.
Currently, Taiwan's Assisted Reproduction Act only applies to heterosexual marriages, requiring couples applying for assisted reproductive technology to be married and have their spouse's consent, meaning lesbian and single women cannot legally use assisted reproductive technology.
The current law defines infertility as "unable to conceive after 12 months of innate intercourse," excluding the situation of "social infertility" faced by single women or same-sex couples.
For example, a lesbian woman wanting to conceive through assisted reproductive technology can freeze her eggs but cannot legally use these eggs for artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization under current regulations because her marriage is not covered by that law.
Single women face the same
Introduction of Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights
About Us
Founded in and officially registered in , The Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR) is a human rights organization advocating for legal and policy reforms on gender and sexuality issues. TAPCPR's mission is to end societal oppression brought about by the gender binary, such that people of different genders, sexual orientations, and gender identities may achieve equal status.
TAPCPR was initially founded to promote equal family formation rights. We proposed a three-part legislative proposal for diverse family formation, which included marriage equality, a civil partnership system, and a multi-person household family system. In , our litigation efforts brought about Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. , which led to Taiwan becoming the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in In after four years of continued litigation, Taiwan approved transnational same-sex marriage recognition to citizens of all countries except China. In addition to marriage equality advocacy, T