Same-sex marriage

Liu Ting turned down a seat on the flight that evacuated 247 Taiwanese and their family members from Wuhan, the Chinese mainland city that is the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak. Her wife, Yang Xi, who is from Wuhan, repeatedly urged Liu to escape without her. But because of a loophole in Taiwan’s same-sex marriage law, only relationships between people who are both Taiwanese are fully recognized. Since they do not have legal marriage status on the self-ruled island, Taiwan resident Liu could not bring her mainland Chinese partner with her onto the evacuation flight. They decided to stay together and live under lockdown in Wuhan, and have spoken about their experience in the video abov

Hong Kong’s tax authority will now treat married gay couples the same as married opposite-sex couples. The rule change by the Inland Revenue Department came one month after a major legal victory for the LGBT community over spousal rights. In a written reply to an inquiry by the South China Morning Post, a spokeswoman for the department said same-sex married couples could now submit joint tax assessments, giving them access to tax benefits previously available only to married straight couples. In a landmark decision in June, Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal ruled in favor of senior immigration officer Angus Leung Chun-kwong, who had taken the government to court after being treated unequall

Last week, more than 1,000 Chinese members of the LGBTQ community and their friends and families embarked on a four-day holiday cruise. The trip started from the southern megacity of Shenzhen, headed to Vietnam and back. Some hoped the relaxed atmosphere of the cruise would make it easier to connect with parents who disapprove of same-sex relationships. In its third year, the annual sea voyage is organized by PFLAG, an advocacy group run by families and friends of LGBTQ people.  One of those on the cruise was Ma Bojun, 25, a lesbian living in the southern city of Guangzhou. Ma is an alias – she declined to give her real name for fear of losing her job in education.  Ma gave us her cruise dia

Anyone reading the headlines about Taiwan’s legalization of same-sex marriage would get the impression this was Asia’s first taste of marriage equality. They would be quite wrong. Taiwan may be the first jurisdiction in Asia to legalize the modern form of same-sex marriage, but such unions have been recognized across the region in various guises for centuries. Asia has a rich history of acceptance of sexual and gender diversity – one that has largely been forgotten. When Europeans first encountered Chinese society, they praised its efficient government and sophisticated lifestyles of the upper-class. But they were shocked and repulsed about one aspect: the “abominable vice of sodomy.” One P