Taiwan’s 2020 Pride Parade will be held on October 31. In the past few years, Taiwan’s same-sex marriage legislation has been in the media limelight, especially after it took effect on May 24, 2019. LGBT groups didn’t stop pursuing their rights after same-sex marriage legalization. What are their goals now? What is the unfinished work in the legal system? How are LGBT groups dealing with their political differences?

We interviewed Jennifer Lu, general convenor and spokesperson for the Taiwan Equality Campaign, for her insights on a “post-marriage equality” era in Taiwan.

How did same-sex marriage legalization affect your organization’s initiatives?

Lu: The passage of the marriage equality law meant that one of our mission phases has ended. We spent quite some time thinking about our platform’s future before deciding that the existence of a civic group for policy lobbying and advocacy is still necessary. The Marriage Equality Coalition had taken on this role in the past because of its visibility. Because of the importance of including other LGBT topics, we renamed our platform the Taiwan Equality Campaign (彩虹平權大平台).

We hope to work with other groups to push for an anti-discrimination law in the coming three to five years. We don’t want to only focus on sexual orientation, but also discriminatory language aimed at LGBT people.

What’s the biggest impact of the same-sex marriage legislation?

Lu: The way it has influenced our national system. Because of the law, Taiwanese now have to face LGBT people and their spouses and families in different layers of our social structure. In the past, LGBT groups didn’t exist within the national system, because the government didn’t know that LGBT needs were both on individual and community levels. Now that LGBT couples are allowed to marry and build their family, they must interact with government institutions, schools, and neighborhoods. Read more via The News Lens