Hints of Taiwan Leading the Way on Same-Sex Marriage in Asia

BEIJING - Will Taiwan legalize same-sex marriage in 2013, the first place in Asia to do so?

Perhaps, judging from recent developments on the island, where the legislature has held its first hearings on the issue, a move that signifies “a major step towards becoming the first Asian territory to approve marriage equality,” the Shanghai-based Web site Shanghaiist reported, citing Gay Star News.

In another sign that change may be on the way for Taiwan, senior judges recently asked for advice from the country's constitutional court, the Grand Justices, on whether to legalize same-sex marriages after two men from Taiwan, Nelson Chan and his long-term partner, Kao Chih-wei, filed an administrative lawsuit last year following the rejection by a local registration office in Taipei of their application to marry.

As The Taipei Times reported late last month, the Taipei High Administrative Court had been expected to hand down a decision on Mr. Chen and Mr. Kao's case, “but instead said it was seeking a constitutional interpretation while holding further debates before making a judgment.”

To Mr. Chen, that was a victory. “I think this is a good decision. I'm happy to see it,” he told The Taipei Times. “I am confident and hopeful of the outcome of the constitutional interpretation, because the world is changing. I hope Taiwan would be the first Asian country to recognize same-sex marriages through a judicial ruling.”

The moves come as more states in the United States have legalized gay marriage â€" Maine and Maryland becoming the latest, with Maryland's new law taking effect Jan. 1. Same-sex marriage is now legal in nine states and Washington, D.C., as The New York Times reports in its Times Topic on same-sex marriage.

One of the most socially and politically progressive societies in Asia, “Taiwan is moving closer to allowing same-sex marriage,” predicted Gay Star News, though it pointed out that top judges in Taiwan had said that the proposed changes did not go far enough and that legislation needed to be rewritten and expanded before that could happen â€" and that it would not be a simple matter.

Current proposals for change affect only the articles of the Civil Code that pertain to marriage in gendered language, and propose “altering the words from ‘male' and ‘female' to gender-neutral language,” Gay Star News reported.

But it quoted a senior judge, Hsu Li-ying, from the Supreme Court's Juvenile and Family Department (the court is known in Taiwan's complex political-legal system as the Judicial Yu an) as saying that the new legislation might “need to be more comprehensive.”

The deputy justice minister, Chen Ming-tang, said it was not just the Civil Code that would have to change, but also laws regarding parentage, taxes and health insurance. That means the Justice Ministry could not do it alone, the report said.

Others believed the road ahead will be long and same-sex marriage difficult to achieve, with the decision to seek advice from the constitutional court a way of avoiding making a decision.

Taiwan has a flourishing civil society and a gay community that has long been pressuring the government to legalize gay marriage. Many believe it is a matter of time. Taiwan hosts Asia's biggest gay pride parade, with the one held last October drawing more than 50,000 participants from across the region.

Taiwan even has its own gay god â€" the Taoist Rabbit God, to whom homosexuals can pray for love and good fortune (there is a small temple to the Rabbit God near Taipei). As The Taipei Times reports, the rabbit deity is based on the real-life figure of Hu Tianbao, an official in 18th-century Qing dynasty China.

And last year, two women in Taiwan were “married” in a Buddhist ceremony by a Buddhist master, Shih Chao-hwei, who is also a professor at Hsuan Chuang University. Homosexuality is not prohibited in Buddhism, the professor said: “It's difficult enough to maintain a relationship,” the professor said in a telephone interview with The Taipei Times. “How could you be so stingy as to begrudge a couple for wanting to get married, regardless of their sexual orientation?”

A poll in September by The United Daily News found that 55 percent of those surveyed approved of gay marriage laws, with only 37 percent against. But the poll also found that 61 percent could not accept their children being gay, with only 37 percent saying they could, the newspaper reported.

French Screen Diva Threatens to Join Russia Exodus

LONDON - Brigitte Bardot, the fifties-to-sixties movie icon, is the latest celebrity to announce plans to flee to Russia to escape her native France.

“I'm serious. I've had it up to here! I can't stand this country any longer,” the retired screen goddess told the daily Nice Matin in its Saturday edition.

Ms. Bardot has been a prominent cheerleader for Gérard Depardieu, her fellow superstar, in his decision to leave France to escape the Socialist government's plans for higher taxes on the wealthy.

Her gripe, however, is not about taxes but rather over the fate of two tubercular elephants at a provincial zoo in Lyon that local authorities have threatened to kill on health grounds. The fate of Baby and Nepal has spurred an 80,000-strong (and growing by the second) online petition and a series of celebrity protests.

If the pachyderms die, “BB” will pack her bags for Moscow, the animal-loving diva warned on Friday. She is upset that her personal plea for clemency to President François Hollande has gone unanswered.

She might find she will be joining Mr. Depardieu in self-imposed exile after the decision of President Vladimir V. Putin this week to grant the actor citizenship.

Both French stars are admirers of the Russian president. Ms. Bardot praised his “humanity” in the Nice Matin interview and claimed he had done more for animal pr otection than a succession of French leaders.

Not so, according to social media commentators at Twitter's trending hashtag #JeDemandeLaNationaliteRusse - I Want Russian Nationality - who highlighted the Russian leader's predilection for shooting tigers and harpooning whales.

Ms. Bardot announced her decision to seek Russian nationality in a press communiqué from the animal protection foundation that bears her name. It would enable her to escape a country that was now “nothing more than an animal cemetery.”

A supporter of the far-right National Front, she told Nice Matin that one good thing about Russia was that it did not have the Feast of the Sacrifice at which Muslims traditionally sacrifice sheep.

The announcement was widely ridiculed by government officials and lampooned in the French media.

Benoît Hamon, the social economy minister, suggested Ms. Bardot should propose marriage to Mr. Depardieu. And Michèle Delaunay, Minister for the Elderly and Dependent Care, said, “I have a long list of people I would like to see in Russia.”

Nora Berra, a former minister from the center-right opposition UMP, said the star's “unworthy and somewhat ridiculous threat” was an insult to the honor of being French and turned nationality into an instrument of blackmail.

The eccentric Ms. Bardot has displayed a talent for controversy since her 1960s heyday when she was chosen as the model for Marianne, the mythical national symbol of the French Republic.

She told Nice Matin she was now ready to bequeath her iconic status to Russia.