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Taiwan's Road to Marriage Equality: Politics of Legalizing Same-sex Marriage

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2018

Ming-sho Ho
Ming-sho Ho*
Affiliation:
National Taiwan University. Email: mingshoho@gmail.com.
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Abstract

In May 2017, Taiwan's Constitutional Court reached a landmark decision that marriage should be opened to same-sex couples within two years, making Taiwan potentially the first country in Asia to realize marriage equality. How can we explain the success of the LGBT movement here? I argue that explanations based on cultural proclivity, public opinion, and linkages to world society, are inadequate. This article adopts a “political process” explanation by looking at changes in the political context and how they facilitate the movement for marriage equality. I maintain that electoral system reform in 2008, the eruption of the Sunflower Movement in 2014, and the electoral victory of the Democratic Progressive Party in 2016, stimulated Taiwan's LGBT mobilization, allowing it to eventually overcome opposition from the church-based countermovement.

摘要

在 2017 年 5 月, 台湾的大法官会议提出重大的释宪案, 同性伴侣应在两年内可以获得婚姻权利, 这使得台湾有可能成为亚洲第一个达成婚姻平权的国家。要如何解释性别少数运动的成功, 既有的关于文化亲近性、舆论支持与世界社会理论等解释，都是不够充份的。相对于此，这篇文章指出, 2008 年的选举制度改革、2014 年的太阳花运动、2016 年的民主进步党之胜选, 激化了性别少数的动员, 使得他们有办法克服来自于教会的反制运动。

Keywords

same-sex marriagemarriage equalityTaiwanLGBTpolitical process同性婚姻婚姻平权台湾性别少数政治过程
Type
Research Article
Information
The China Quarterly , Volume 238 , June 2019 , pp. 482 - 503
Copyright
Copyright © SOAS University of London 2018 

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