First Country In Asia: Marriage Equality and Brand Taiwan

This is a translation from the original 從亞洲同婚合法化的先驅，看台灣內政轉國際銷的政治策 by Lee Chung-chih (李中志), a professor at Illinois State University who served as president of the North American Taiwanese Professors Association. Originally published by Voicettank. Translation by Tim Smith.

***

Two years ago, the Constitutional Court of Taiwan made its interpretive ruling No. 748 that the Civil Code’s exclusion of same-sex couples from marriages was unconstitutional, and instructed the Tsai administration and the Legislative Yuan to either amend the Civil Code or introduce a separate law within two years to resolve the matter. But last year’s slew of anti-equality referendums were passed with overwhelming majorities, making marriage equality a political hot potato for the ruling party.

The Tsai administration could have simply let the two years lapse, after which the court’s interpretation would have supposedly permitted same-sex partners to begin registering to marry.  In that case, the anti-LGBT groups in Taiwan would probably have responded with an even more vicious campaign against LGBT people, even introducing legislation attacking LGBT rights.

To their credit, Premier Su Tseng-chang and his cabinet did not give up, and eventually proposed legislation before the deadline, launching the Law for Implementation of the Constitutional Court of Taiwan’s Interpretation No. 748, which passed last Friday. Pro-LGBT groups gathered outside the Legislative Yuan, standing in drizzling rain to show their support, fully backing the administration’s bill. Anti-LGBT groups used a press conference to monitor the voting process, calling on the government to respect the results of last year’s referendums. Even though both sides rallied against each other, the discussion process within the Legislative Yuan was quite mum and went off without any hiccups. There was no boycott from the opposition party (KMT), and the bill smoothly passed into law.

The ruling party (DPP) was stuck between a rock and a hard place when it came to the constitutional court’s ruling and the referendum results. Finding a way to satisfy the two seemingly conflicting results wasn’t an easy thing to do. This special law basically applied the Civic Code marriage provisions to same-sex marriages, but there were still a number of differences. Its full discriminatory effect will be more apparent in future litigations.

However, pro-LGBT peoples had undergone major losses at the referendum ballot box last year, and perhaps have softened their stance to find a separate law acceptable. They welcomed at least the spirit of the new law; after all, this was just the first step of a long journey towards equality. Meanwhile, anti-LGBT activists didn’t accept this compromise at all, and with the support they had in the referendums they resisted bitterly to the end and relentlessly demonized the government and LGBT people at every chance they could.

International mainstream media mostly skipped over the details of the political back and forth, and lavished praise on Taiwan. The headlines focused on Taiwan’s progressiveness leading it to become the first country in Asia to recognize same-sex marriage. International media with deeper understand of Taiwan recognize passing marriage equality in a conservative Asian society and affirmed President Tsai’s commitment to her principles even at the cost of losing votes.

However over-simplified that view is, some opponents of Tsai within her own party seems to think so too. Anti-LGBT members of the independence faction in the green camp (led by the ruling DPP) of course oppose marriage equality from the perspective of religion or tradition, but many more of Tsai’s opponents believe that supporting marriage equality will harm the DPP’s electoral prospects. I don’t have the exact numbers, but in my own experience this is almost the last line of defense for some pro-independence but anti-LGBT supporters.

Furthermore, there are many in the independence camp who are stomping their feet: how is President Tsai willing to risk so much political capital on pushing marriage equality, but show no support for Taiwan to compete as “Taiwan” in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, or for holding a referendum on formal independence? They believe that she not only didn’t do anything to support them, but that she even suppressed their efforts.

This dissatisfaction goes to the core of the rift between the independence faction and Tsai Ing-wen, but it begs the question: are formal independence of a country and marriage equality really two trains rushing to collide with each other? Is Tsai Ing-wen really putting the country at risk over her personal progressive preferences?

Brand Taiwan is democracy and human rights

I disagree. First of all, President Tsai’s accumulated political track record of course doesn’t place her in the same position as an extreme conservative, but it’s hard to say that’s she’s a bonafide liberal either. She doesn’t seem like the kind of politician who would risk her approval ratings on a personal whim. Second, support for marriage equality even in the face of backlash actually serves a bigger strategic goal for Taiwan, one that’s often ignored by the more hardcore independence supporters who oppose Tsai.

In reality, the Tsai administration’s strategy to promote Taiwan’s independence from China is to highlight how Taiwan’s values are drastically different from China’s. Rather than a pure domestic rights question, it’s a way to “export” a political issue at home into a diplomatic and branding win.

This is pretty much the reverse of politicians using foreign affairs as a way to shore up power domestically. In the past, politicians have tried risky diplomatic stunts to raise profiles at home, which has worked in the ballot box and fueled nationalism in Taiwan. But diplomatically these stunts haven’t had much lasting effect, except to ironically paint Taiwan itself as a “troublemaker” in the eyes of foreign powers.

What has actually established Taiwan’s international place was Taiwan’s democratization and the steady progress of reforms to the constitution, thus allowing for Taiwan to cast off the yoke of the Chiang family’s power, and differentiating itself from China.

The independence faction’s worries are understandable, but if the government could change Taiwan’s official name, it would do it, no questions asked. If Taiwan’s president could go to the White House or give a speech to US Congress at the Capitol, she would do it. Who wouldn’t do these things if given the chance? It would boost popularity for sure.

But these issue are highly improbable. Without the consent of the country concerned (the US), loudly beating our drums and crashing cymbals, trying to crash our way into the party isn’t going to work. All this fluff is only intended for rallying domestic voters, but very harmful to Taiwan’s international standing at the same time.

Even though the US and China are becoming increasingly adversarial and the international trends are benefiting Taiwan, the lens with which the international mainstream sees Taiwan isn’t fair. Perhaps it’s sympathetic to Taiwan, but it’s almost impossible for the current political establishment to allow for Taiwan to act unilaterally if it will raise regional tensions. We can blame the Western establishment for their ignorance, but that’s the reality right now. It’s a sad reality, for sure. No matter how legitimate our wishes, like having our national team be named “Taiwan” in the Olympics, our own voices don’t grab the attention of the Western elite, except in a negative light.

But not so with same-sex marriage. This issue broke through the limitations on Taiwan in the international discourse. Since Tsai took office, international media has mostly had positive reports on the progress of marriage equality. Another moment of progress was the moment President Tsai was elected; her gender represented a level of Taiwan’s progressiveness, an achievement no less than the DPP’s return to power. These were the stories that caught the attention of liberal media outlets that are otherwise skittish about mentioning Taiwan’s sovereignty. They allowed the world to see Taiwan for its own sake.

A headline as simple as “Taiwan: the first country in Asia to pass marriage equality” is a diplomatic win, showing that Taiwan is not China.

(Feature photo by William Yang)