The Push for Marriage Equality in Taiwan
By Leon Mar
In partnership with a grassroots coalition, the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association, Taiwan’s oldest and largest LGBTI organization, has mobilized hundreds of thousands of people to bring marriage equality to Taiwan. If the campaign succeeds, Taiwan will become the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage—an enormous breakthrough for LGBTI people across the region.
Jennifer Lu has worked at the hotline for 12 years, and in 2016, she campaigned on behalf of the Social Democratic Party as an openly lesbian candidate for the legislature.
In this video, Lu, who now heads the organization’s marriage equality advocacy team, talks about the context of the current campaign as well as why it means so much to her, personally.
The Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association is an Open Society grantee. At Open Society is a video series highlighting the people and ideas that are inspiring our work—and changing the world.
Until July 2017, Leon Mar was the communications officer for the Open Society Human Rights Initiative.
