Talking Taiwan Episode: Wen Liu, Gender Studies Professor on the LGBTQ Movement in Taiwan
When I heard the historic news of May 24th, that Taiwan’s Constitutional Court had ruled that marriage is not strictly defined as being between a man and a woman, it was exciting to know that Taiwan was poised to be the first country in Asia to legalize gay marriage. Even though I’ve been involved with the Taiwan float in the New York Gay Pride Parade twice before this year’s event, I realize that I have a lot more to learn about the LGBTQ movement and community in New York and Taiwan.
In fact, just last year I attended an orientation session for floats participating in the New York Gay Pride Parade. There I learned that the official name of the event is actually the New York Pride March. Why a march and not a parade? The organizers of New York Pride explained that the term march is a reminder of the origins of the first Gay Pride March in New York, which rose out of the riots that erupted in reaction to the unjust police raids of the Stonewall bar.
As for Taiwan’s Gay Pride Parade, it’s the largest one in Asia. But beyond that and up until the May 24th Constitutional Court ruling, what’s happened in the gay rights movement in Taiwan?
I thought this would be the perfect time to cover this topic on the Talking Taiwan podcast, especially since Mr. Chi Chia-wei, the gay rights activist whose lawsuit led to the historic ruling would be in New York for Gay Pride and I had planned to interview him for Talking Taiwan.
Before speaking to Mr. Chi, I wanted to interview someone about the gay rights movement in Taiwan. That led me to Wen Liu, gender studies professor at SUNY Albany and my interview with her.
I am so pleased to have Wen on as a guest to talk about the LGBTQ movement and the recent ruling in Taiwan on same-sex marriage. What listeners don’t know is that Wen did the interview with me from Taiwan, even though she is usually based in New York. She took time out of her schedule when she was in Taiwan this summer to do the podcast interview. I really appreciate her doing that so that we could edit and release her interview in advance of the interview I did with Mr. Chi Chia-Wei. I love it when I'm able to cover noteworthy Taiwan-related news like this in the Talking Taiwan podcast.
Here’s a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:
- The May 24th ruling by the Constitutional Court in Taiwan that same-sex marriage could be legalized
- Mr. Chi Chia-wei who’s lawsuit led to the May 24th ruling
- The history of the same-sex marriage battle and family law in Taiwan
- Major turning points in Taiwan’s LGBTQ movement
- The history behind Taiwan’s gay pride parade
- How Taiwan compares to other Asian countries on LGBTQ issues
- The next steps after the May 24th ruling
- The marriage equality bill, civil partnership bill, multiple family bill
- Other work that needs to be done in Taiwan for the LGBTQ community
