For Taiwan’s LGBT+ community, Saturday’s results don’t mark the end of the push for equality.
The News Lens
Date: 2018/11/27
By: Cat Thomas
Credit: Jonathon Tree
Taiwan spent its Saturday voting on 10 referendums alongside its regional elections. Unsurprisingly, this presented practical issues for an electorate and election officials who were dealing with the new rules introduced by the revised Referendum Act of December 2017. No matter the result of the referendum questions, it is an important step forward in the push towards direct democracy that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and pro-independence forces have long championed.
According to the Central Election Committee website, out of 19,757,067 eligible voters, participation on all ten referendum questions ranged from 54.5 percent to 55.8 percent with votes on LGBT related issues drawing the highest numbers. Although the initial reaction was one of dismay, the LGBT community has rallied together and shows no signs of being crushed by the blow.
The first referendum that has been run under the revised rules and the lowered thresholds for calling and passing referendums saw a flurry of action as conservative forces proposed two anti-marriage equality questions (including a proposal to adopt a separate law such as a civil union to cover same-sex marriage) and an effort to have part of the Gender Equity Act enforcement rules removed (covering ‘homosexual education’). Pro-LGBT rights groups were behind two responsive questions calling for equal marriage to be enforced under the civil code and for gender equity education to remain the same. [FULL STORY]