HOW TO THINK ABOUT IT
A long time coming. Friday’s vote wasn’t exactly a surprise — but it didn’t come about easily, either. Taiwan has long been home to Asia’s largest annual gay pride parade. The Supreme Court itself paved the way in 2017 by ruling that defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman was unconstitutional. But a majority of its citizens voted against same-sex marriage rights in a public referendum last November, while the legislature’s decision to wait until the eleventh hour to adhere to the court’s order demonstrates that unease by appearing at odds with broader Taiwanese sentiment. Still, the Taiwanese Parliament’s decision on Friday ensures a level of freedom the LGBTQ community doesn’t enjoy elsewhere in Asia. That’s probably why gay couples across the island state had begun planning their weddings even before their legislative win. Though Taiwan may be overlooked globally, one 31-year-old gay man told AFP, “the things we have done are visionary and with purpose.”
Is South Asia next? For decades, countries in the world’s most densely populated region have followed British-era laws that discriminate against the LGBTQ community. But in recent years, they’ve begun to break with that legacy — even as they remain largely conservative societies otherwise. Last October, India legalized same-sex relationships. Pakistan now has a law that punishes discrimination against transgender people. Nepal legalized homosexual relations in 2007. And in 2016, Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court recognized that “consensual sex between people of the same sex should not be policed by the state nor should it be grounds for criminalization." For LGBTQ rights activists in South Asia, same-sex marriages are the next step, and Taiwan’s move will only strengthen their campaign.
Not in their backyard. Analysts are asking whether Brunei’s draconian new punishment will influence other Southeast Asian states that are far less welcoming than those mentioned above. Even before that decision — slightly dialed back this week after Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah extended a moratorium on the death penalty — Malaysia’s tourism minister claimed there were no gay people in his country, where gay sex remains illegal. In Indonesia, meanwhile, Human Rights Watch says that “a government-driven moral panic” is fueling denunciations of the LGBT community there, with some localities even proposing to out allegedly gay men to the authorities. In the latter two countries, conservative Islam is imparting greater influence on the local political landscapes.
Thumbing a nose at Big Brother? China’s growing economic clout and recent technological advances have helped it wean away Taiwan’s former diplomatic allies, and instead emerge as the envy of much of Asia — and beyond. But Friday’s legislative decision serves to underscore how Taiwan, itself once an economic success story, stands in shining contrast to its cross-strait brother when it comes to respect for individual choices. Homosexuality has been legal in China since 1997, but same-sex marriages remain barred. As the gay rights movement there grows — in one high-profile act, a couple sued local authorities in 2015 for failing to accept their application to marry — activists might find inspiration in a system they’ve otherwise been taught to see as inferior to that of the communist mainland.
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