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The Background of the LGBT history in Taiwan
The major religions in Taiwan are Buddhism and Taoism. In these religions, there are no arguable issues about the LGBTQ people. In other word, there is no the law about punishing sodomy which means making a sexual relationship between males unlike western cultures. However, it was also a taboo issue, too. When the human right issued in the politics, the concept of “Tongzhi” which means queer or LGBT in Taiwanese became a key term among the politicians in Taiwan. From the moment, Taiwanese people are surprisingly getting to familiar with the concept of “Tongzhi”. However, LGBT had never mentioned in the Taiwan law. There is no punishment and, there is no welfare or protection for LGBTQ people. From the 1990s, the movements of the human rights for LGBTQ was starting. And now, Taiwan is one of the most LGBTQ friendly nations among the Asia, there is a large gay community and the biggest Pride Parade hold in Taipei which is the capital of the Taiwan. Same-sex marriage is not legalized yet, but some cities can issue a same sex partnership card for LGBT couples to prove their relationship in case of emergency. LGBT discrimination is banned in workplaces and schools. Also, people can change their legal gender. The first Taiwan’s female president who was elected on May, Tsai Ing-wen, is officially supporting the rights of the LGBT people. Also, she sets to legalize the same-sex marriage and she desires that Taiwan become the first country in the Asia to allow same-sex marriage. Taiwan has a progressive history of LGBTQ.
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Time Line of Taiwan LGBT History
In 1896, Homosexuality in Taiwan was decriminalized.
In 1949, Taiwan became independent from China. And they run their own political system. There is no mention by law about queer people. There was no mention, by the law, about queer people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
In 1983, the first queer novel, Crystal Boys, was published in Chinese as "Niezi" which means Evil Sons. The author of the book is Pai Hsien-yung, he described the gay history of 1970s in this book. Crystal Boys has been famous for well-organized as a literature of gay history for its illustration of the 1970s’ subterranean homosexual prostitution minor culture based in the New Park in downtown Taipei. However, as the following examples demonstrates, it has been a site of identification for a new style of "Tongzhi(Queer)" awareness.
In 1990, the first lesbian group, Between Us, was established.
In 1996, a Taiwanese writer Hsu Yu-sheng and his American partner Gray Harriman had the first public same-sex wedding in Taiwan.
In 1998, the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association which was an legally registered gay community founded.
In 2002, Taiwanese gay rights activists were invited by the president of Taiwan, Chen Shui-Bian in the presidential office.
In 2003, Vice-President and convener of the government’s human rights commission (Annette Lu Hsiu-lien) drafted a basic human rights law that included an article on same-sex marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples. But it wasn’t passed. It was being discussed in cabinet but then there was an election in 2004 and a change of government.
In 2003, the first pride parade was held by the Taiwan government.
In 2004, the second pride march was funded by community groups.
In 2005, a same-sex marriage bill is submitted by Hsiao Bi-khim who is a lawmaker from the Democratic Progressive Party. However, it was rejected.
In 2006, there was the second public wedding between a gay right activist Nelson Chen and his partner Kao Chih-Wei.
In 2010, the third couple had a public wedding.
In 2012, the first lesbian couple had a public wedding with the bless of monks.
In 2013, there is a poll about the same-sex marriage legislation, the result turned out that more than the half of the people in Taiwanese supported it.
In 2016, the same-sex marriage is in the process to be legalized. In this reason, there have happened a lot of supporting LGBT and the opposing side's movements.
On January, Tsai Ing-wen won the election and became the first Taiwan’s female president. She and her party, Progressive Party [DPP], have been supporting LGBTQ people’s rights.
On October, 29th- The biggest LGBT Pride Parade in Asia held in Taipei. This march gathered around 80,000 people from Taiwan and around Asia. The participants supported to pass the same-sex marriage in Taiwan.
On November, 11th-The city named Kaohsiung issued the first same-sex partnership card to the young lesbian couple, Yang Ying-fan (陳盈汎) and Wu Yu-ting (吳羽婷). This card is an official ID card and it has the basic personal information of two people’s name, birth dates, and birthplace. This card doesn’t carry legal binding force; however it can verify the relationship between a same sex couple. It can use in the case of an emergency in medical institutes
On December, 10th- Over 200,000 number of protesters gathered in front of the presidential palace on Taipei's Ketagalan Boulevard to support to legalize the bill of same-sex marriage. In this new law, it would change Taiwan's definition of marriage. It will remove the terms about genders(man and woman) and change the word to two people.