Taiwan just helped Asia progress a little further by becoming the first nation on the continent to legalize gay marriage. This is pretty unprecedented since other countries in the region aren’t quite showing signs of moving in a similar direction, and while India has recently legalized gay relations, we might have to wait a little longer before people can fully accept LGBTQ couples and their right to marry each other. However, the good news is that progress always starts with the first step, and Taiwan just took it which means that someday, the rest of the continent will follow suit.
President Tsai Ing-wen tweeted right after the vote was passed that the nation has made a huge move towards true equality, and this decision made Taiwan an even better state than it was before.
The move took place with thousands of demonstrators outside the legislature, and joy took to the streets of Taipei the moment it was made clear that gay marriage is now a constitutional right of the citizens of Taiwan.
Taiwan has been a leading nation in gay rights in the region for many years now and has drawn gay people from surrounding countries through various demonstrations.
In 2017, it was deemed by the high court of Taiwan that it went against the constitution of the state to ban gay marriage and give the legislature a deadline after two years to vote on the matter. If any law was unable to be passed, gay marriage would become legal by default, which means that the whole process had a lot of hope from the start.
President Tsai Ing-wen has been supportive of gay marriage throughout the process, and even on the morning when the legislature took place, she tweeted in support of gay marriage and urged lawmakers to do the same. According to her, Taiwan could show the world that progressive values could be instilled in their nation as well, and that’s exactly what ended up happening.
It wasn’t long ago when Chi Chia-wei, the Godfather of Gay Rights in Taiwan, was arrested for coming out as gay in 1986, which shows just how far the state has come since then. He’s pretty pleased with the new values that the nation is showing, especially to the LGBTQ community.
Many gay people had already decided to get married on the deadline of the legislature no matter its outcome, and we’re glad they did so under the right circumstances. Around 20 couples got married right outside the legislature, and although there was a lot of opposition from religious authorities, a resounding victory was achieved with a final 66 to 27 votes favoring the legalization of gay marriage in Taiwan. This is definitely a reason to celebrate and to have faith that the world is improving as a whole.
Love has, indeed, won in Taiwan, and the state has set an example for the rest of Asia to follow suit. We’re hoping it won’t be long before other democracies in the region start paying attention to progressive gay rights so that the whole continent can start to move towards values that the rest of the world has turned into the norm. #Lovewins!