02:48Taiwan: 'Great beginning' - LGBT+ supporters after referendum rejects same-sex marriage
Although same-sex marriage was rejected in Taiwan's referendum on Saturday, the LGBT+ supporters who gathered in Taipei remained positive and confident.
According to the referendum's results, the number of support votes only accounted for around half of the opposition votes. But, the LGBTQI rights activist Dayway Chief said, "given the proportion of the homosexual and heterosexual population, we are still a big winner."
Same-sex marriage supporter Kate Cheng agreed on this point, that the LGBT+ community was seeing progress. "Although it seems that vote disparity is very wide, actually we have had dialogues with more people in this period. Starting the conversation is actually very important, because going from being afraid to mention this issue to slowly acknowledging it, is a great beginning", she said.
Taiwan's high court ruled in favour of same-sex marriage in May 2017, giving parliament two years to legislate on the issue and pass new laws. However, a recent survey by the Taiwan Public Opinions Foundation found that 77 percent of respondents were in favour of the 'traditional' definition of marriage, between a man and a woman.
02:48Although same-sex marriage was rejected in Taiwan's referendum on Saturday, the LGBT+ supporters who gathered in Taipei remained positive and confident.
According to the referendum's results, the number of support votes only accounted for around half of the opposition votes. But, the LGBTQI rights activist Dayway Chief said, "given the proportion of the homosexual and heterosexual population, we are still a big winner."
Same-sex marriage supporter Kate Cheng agreed on this point, that the LGBT+ community was seeing progress. "Although it seems that vote disparity is very wide, actually we have had dialogues with more people in this period. Starting the conversation is actually very important, because going from being afraid to mention this issue to slowly acknowledging it, is a great beginning", she said.
Taiwan's high court ruled in favour of same-sex marriage in May 2017, giving parliament two years to legislate on the issue and pass new laws. However, a recent survey by the Taiwan Public Opinions Foundation found that 77 percent of respondents were in favour of the 'traditional' definition of marriage, between a man and a woman.