Taiwan Pride Parade: Progress, Challenges, and the Road Ahead

Nymphia marched in the parade alongside Taiwan’s Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim and nearly 200 other groups, all united under the theme of "embracing diversity." Later that evening, Nymphia presided over a night of Asian drag excellence at the annual You Better Werk festival, featuring queens from across the Asian diaspora, including Thailand’s Pangina Heels, the Philippines’ Marina Summers, Vietnamese-American queen Plastique Tiara, and Taiwan-based New Zealand drag queen Taipei Popcorn.

Taiwan became the first Asian country to legalize gay marriage in 2019, paving the way for other countries in the region. Since then, Thailand and Nepal have also legalized gay marriage, and a second high court in Japan recently ruled that the ban on marriage equality is unconstitutional. Since Taiwan allowed same-sex couples to wed, there have been further advances toward greater equality. In 2023, the outgoing cabinet lifted restrictions on transnational marriages between Taiwanese citizens and those from countries where gay marriage was still outlawed. That same year, the Legislative Yuan passed amendments allowing gay couples to jointly adopt non-relative children. Previously, joint adoption was only possible if one parent was biologically related to the child.

This August, Taiwan lifted further restrictions on gay marriage by recognizing a cross-strait marriage between a Taiwanese and a Chinese national for the first time. However, barriers remain, as cross-strait couples must marry in a third country and pass a marriage interview to have their union recognized in Taiwan.

Despite these recent changes, LGBTQ people in Taiwan still face discrimination at work, from their families, and in parts of society. A 2023 survey found that only 46 percent of LGBTQ individuals were out to their colleagues, and less than 30 percent were out to their bosses. Taiwan also has an indefinite ban on blood donations from men who have sex with men, although in August, the Center for Disease Control announced it would consider lifting this restriction.

 Other legal issues still prevent full equality, particularly concerning surrogacy, assisted reproductive treatments like IVF, and allowing transgender individuals to change their legal gender without undergoing gender-affirming surgery.

Taiwan, like many countries worldwide, is facing population decline and currently has the lowest fertility rate globally, at 1.1 percent. With such low birth rates, it is surprising that the country continues to have restrictive laws on surrogacy and access to assisted reproductive technology. Currently, only married heterosexual couples are eligible for assisted reproduction treatments, excluding lesbians, single women, and other non-heterosexual couples. Surrogacy is completely outlawed, meaning that some gay couples' only options are adoption or seeking surrogacy services overseas.

Both IVF and surrogacy are regulated under the Assisted Reproduction Act 2007 (ARA). Draft amendments to this legislation are currently being debated, which would expand eligibility for reproductive treatments and legalize surrogacy. Advocates, such as Taiwan Women’s Link, have petitioned to address reproductive technology and surrogacy separately, arguing that reproductive technology involves bodily autonomy and different ethical considerations than surrogacy. They fear that combining both issues may delay amendments due to the complexities involved. Other groups, like Taiwan Non-binary Queer Sluts, argue that the proposed amendments are insufficient, as they do not include trans men, intersex individuals, and non-binary people, who are also impacted by current reproductive laws and social attitudes.

Further challenges exist for transgender people in Taiwan. Since 1988, transgender individuals have been able to change the legal gender on their household registration card (Taiwan's main form of ID) if they meet certain criteria. In 2008, the Ministry of the Interior updated the executive order governing these changes, but in most cases, changing one's gender marker still requires the removal of reproductive organs and two separate diagnoses of gender dysphoria. Advocates argue that the costs of such surgeries are prohibitive and that not all transgender people experience dysphoria about their anatomy. The directive is not legally binding, and approval rests with individual household registration offices, which has led to legal challenges.

Following a landmark case involving transgender woman Xiao E in 2023, subsequent High Administrative Court rulings have allowed four transgender women and one transgender man to change their gender marker without undergoing surgery. Many of these cases were represented by the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights as part of their campaign to abolish the surgery requirement. Despite these successes, Taiwan Alliance lawyer Victoria Hsu estimates that 90 percent of Taiwan’s approximately 100,000 transgender citizens have IDs that do not match their gender identity, which leads to daily discrimination.

Although the rulings removed the need for surgery, in all five cases proof of a gender dysphoria diagnosis was still required. Currently before the courts is the case of Vivi, a transwoman and dancer whose petition to change her gender was rejected. She provided ample social evidence, showing she has lived as a woman for many years and her family and friends accept and recognise her such. She believes that transgender identity should not be framed as condition that needs to be diagnosed. After suing the government, she was handed a ruling by the High Administrative Court that she only needed the diagnosis of one doctor, not two. She plans to appeal at the Supreme Court.

Opposition to removing the surgery requirement largely comes from groups like the gender-critical organization No-Self ID Taiwan. They argue that trans rights are not human rights and claim, without evidence, that transgender women pose risks to women’s safety, conflating male violence against women with trans women’s right to live as women. Their website lists supposed risks in areas like women’s sports, healthcare, and social services, though their statistics are based on male crime data, not incidents involving transgender women.

Despite No-Self ID Taiwan’s claim that over 90 percent of Taiwanese people oppose allowing transgender individuals to change their legal gender without surgery, the credibility of this data has been questioned. A 2024 Executive Yuan public opinion survey on gender equality found that around 61.7 percent supported removing the surgical requirement.

While Taiwan’s advancements in LGBTQ rights are commendable and justly celebrated during Pride Month, there is still work to be done for full equality. Taiwan’s leadership in LGBTQ rights provides hope that the island will continue to champion diversity and inclusion for all its communities.

-Asia Media Centre