Opponents of same-sex marriage studied a playbook provided by more experienced US church groups in how to counter pro-LGBT rights activism.
The News Lens
Date: 2018/12/14
By: The Interpreter
Credit: Reuters / TPG
Like in Australia, the debate about foreign interference in Taiwan usually centers on the shadowy intentions of China. But a very different source of overseas influence is blamed, at least in part, for Taiwan’s failed bid last month to become the first Asian nation to formally legalize same-sex marriage.
Not meddling from Beijing, but from some Christian groups in the United States.
“Social conservative voices are rising in Taiwan,” says Ketty Chen of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, “and they are found to have a growing and consistent relationship with evangelical conservatives in the United States”.
The strength of these links became clear in the lead-up to Taiwan’s referendum on same-sex marriage in local elections on Nov. 24. Chen watched anti-LGBTQ campaigns gather momentum, benefiting from training in U.S. mega-churches and with pamphlets that featured many of the same prejudiced tropes about “moral decay” threatening society that have spread across the world to undermine progress on gay rights. [FULL STORY]
