Various media have reported about the strong possibility that Taiwan will soon allow gay marriage. Does anyone know the latest news?
And how about Thailand? Have there recently been any moves to legalize gay marriage?
Various media have reported about the strong possibility that Taiwan will soon allow gay marriage. Does anyone know the latest news?
And how about Thailand? Have there recently been any moves to legalize gay marriage?
Taiwan is already very close to enacting same-sex marriage legislation. Every major city now has legal provision for registration of same-sex couples. With the backing of the recently elected President, there is now more than one Bill before the Legislative Yuan in Taiwan. At least one has passed its second reading and a full debate is now scheduled for December 26. A majority of legislators have announced they are backing the Bill. I believe - but am not certain - that if the December debate approves the Bill, then same-sex marriage will become law. The major problem now is that some legislators want to see an amendment to the existing Bill stating marriage can only be between a man and a woman, whilst others want a completely new piece of legislation. Yet even though opinion polls on the island over the last couple of years, some carried out online by the government, show quite a majority in favour of same-sex marriage, there has been a lot of feet-dragging in the parliament. So there could still be roadblocks ahead.
There's a fascinating yet very sad article on the AsiaGuys blogsite which you should definitely read. This profoundly influenced sentiment on the island recently.
http://www.asiaguys.net/taipei-gay-p...2016-part-two/
As for Thailand, I cannot see it ever becoming law here in our lifetimes (unless you are pretty young). Thai society is basically just too conservative. Thais are happy to show tolerance and acceptance of gays and katoeys, but not for marriage. As far as I know the issue of even same-sex partnerships has never come before parliament. Given that certain cities and city wards in Japan have now approved same-sex partnerships, I reckon conservative Japan is most likely to become the second Asian country to approve same-sex marriage - although that is clearly quite a few years away.
I'll never understand this fascination with marriage...
I am fascinated by marriage, not to marry, but as an indicator of how mature and open a society/culture/country is.
And in Nepal the government has appointed a same sex marriage committee with representatives from the LGBTI community.
Giving the date 12 March 1995, the Wikipedia entry A timeline of same sex marriage refers to - but offers no other details of - "one recorded case of a legally valid same-sex civil marriage contraction in Cambodia: Khav Sokha and Pum Eth were married in the village of Kro Bao Ach Kok in Kandal Province".Originally Posted by fountainhall
Did Cambodia, at least in that one instance, thereby pre-date both Taiwan and Japan in recognising a "legally valid same-sex civil marriage"?
"The fruits of peace and tranquility... are the greatest goods... while those of its opposite, strife, are unbearable evils. Hence we ought to wish for peace, to seek it if we do not already have it, to conserve it once it is attained, and to repel with all our strength the strife which is opposed to it. To this end individual[s]... and in even greater degree groups and communities are obliged to help one another... from the bond or law of human society." [Marsilio dei Mainardini (c.1275-1342), Defensor Pacis]
They said the same about Ireland - which if anything is/was a lot more conservative than Thailand... yet the marriage equality referendum passed 62:38%
Buffalo me die! Send Money!
If you read those conservative commentators who are in favor of gay marriage they all, without exception, say it will encourage "social stability", which is code for "those faggots will settle down and stop being promiscuous sluts". Is that what you mean by "mature and open"?
The country with the most fascinating outlook is China. Not because it has ever hinted that same-sex marriage might even be considered; more because it now has a monstrous gender imbalance. Thanks to 35 years of the one child policy (now abandoned) and the traditional preference for boy children over girls, roughly 118 boys are now born for every 100 girls. Given that the international norm is 103 to 107, there are already tens of millions of young Chinese men who will never be able to find wives - and the number can only increase over the next 20 or so years. Attempts are being made to "recruit" eligible women from neighbouring countries but that will be a mere drop in the bucket.
The result is twofold. Young women now can quite literally take their pick - and they want the most eligible guys who own their own flats and hold down good jobs. Then there is the growing pool of single men who will never find wives. The state's own Population and Family Planning Commission estimates there will be 30 million of them by 2020. Most others agree this is a significant underestimate.
In a country of almost 1.4 billion, if international comparisons have any relevance then about 50 - 70 million men are likely to be gay. Certainly many of those who have married did so to mask their true sexuality. Last year, Xie Zuoshi, an economics professor at the Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, suggested in one of his blogs (he has millions of followers) that one solution is to permit polygamy; another is to legalise gay marriage. That post was quickly withdrawn but gay marriage is now a subject that is being much more openly discussed than before.
Will it happen? Unlikely in the present era of President Xi Jinping who has frequently stressed the importance of family values. Yet if China makes no moves to alleviate the situation of up to 50 million men who have no chance of marrying, most from the working classes in the countryside, he risks creating a high degree of social unrest and instability. This from a man who also places internal stability at the top of his agenda.
It does make you wonder, though. If conditions changed and the even some of the tens of millions of repressed gay Chinese were eventually able freely to come out, might that make China one of the gayest Asian destinations in the future?
christianpfc (December 7th, 2016)
So we can fuck them but not marry them?
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