Shows how far behind and backwards Australia's present gov is, that whilst marriage equality languishes here in Lieberal politicking, Taiwan may become the first Asian nation to get marriage equality.
As with here it's the personal stories that change hearts and minds. Those stories that show us simply as people like everyone else.
The organization launched in 1998, in the wake of a string of gay youth suicides. Since then, it’s offered a hotline for LGBT people to call in times of distress, or when they just need to talk to someone. Five nights a week, trained volunteers gather in a locked room to answer calls on everything from starting relationships to AIDS testing to family issues. There’s even a separate hotline for parents of LGBT kids — it’s answered by other parents who listen to the callers’ concerns and talk about their own experiences. Volunteers answer almost 2,000 calls a year.
Now they’re leading the marriage equality fight and focused on telling personal stories of gay people.
“We’re trying to reach out to people and show them that LGBT people could be someone you see every day, in the office or the MRT,” Taipei’s subway system, Lin said. “This is the first time we’ve seen that we can influence our political system.”
One debate among activists is whether it’s better to directly change the civil code, which governs family law, or create a separate new law for gay and lesbian couples. Yu’s bill would change the code. Lin said his group supports that: Passing a new law would be “a separation, just like old days [in the US] when black people could sit on the bus but only in certain seats. That we don’t like.”
Their biggest tool is the street demonstrations. Taiwan is known for its vigorous political protests, and the marriage issue is no different: Organizers said about 250,000 people came to the largest pro-marriage protest so far, on Dec. 10. Pri
A remarkable day with 250,000 people supporting marriage equality in Taiwan! #lgbt #taiwan #taipei #marriageequality #婚姻平权 pic.twitter.com/FUiVqgNJQY— PinkDotSG (@PinkDotSG) December 11, 2016
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