LGBTQ RIGHTS/Public support for same-sex marriage in Taiwan hits new high: Poll

Taipei, May 17 (CNA) Support for same-sex marriage has hit a new high among Taiwanese nearly five years after gay couples were allowed to get married in Taiwan, according to the results of a survey released by the Taiwan Equality Campaign on Friday.

Some 56.5 percent of the poll's respondents favored same-sex marriage, the highest level since the civic group started conducting the annual survey in 2020, when support for same-sex marriage was at about 41 percent.

Those who opposed same-sex marriage dropped from 48.7 percent in 2020 to 36.93 percent in 2024, the survey found.

The group presented its survey one week after the Cabinet's Department of Gender Equalityone released the results of its own survey, which found that 69.1 percent of respondents favored same-sex marriage.

The Taiwan Equality Campaign's survey also found, however, that acceptance of seeing gay and lesbian couples kiss has respectively hovered at around 60 percent and 50 percent over the past four years, suggesting that there was still progress to be made.

At a press conference in Taipei presenting the survey, Wong Yu-cing (翁おう鈺清), the group's advocacy and civic engagement project manager, said policies should be devised to improve understanding of homosexuals and that anti-discrimination laws should be amended.

Still, the survey did found that the public's support for international same-sex marriage (64.28 percent) and same-sex spouses' adoption rights (66.14 percent) were up around 10 percentage points from when they were first investigated.

Wong attributed this to the legalization of related practices in 2023, arguing that "changes in rules and regulations can lead to people's support."

Same-sex spouses in Taiwan have been able to adopt children since Taiwan's Legislature amended the Act for Implementation of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748 last year.

Some 61.37 percent and 46.04 percent of respondents backed the right of lesbian couples and gay spouses, respectively, to have children through artificial reproduction, both new highs in the two indicators, the survey found.

Additionally, the group found that 70.71 percent of respondents approve of single women having children through artificial reproduction, a question the annual survey had not included before.

The poll also found that 60.63 percent of respondents said they could accept their children being homosexual, including 20.63 percent who said they were "very willing to accept" that.

While 66.79 percent of respondents could accept councilors and lawmakers being homosexual, the rate dipped slightly to 62.52 percent for mayors and county magistrates.

Respondents' attitudes were strongly correlated to their ages.

Whereas around 90 percent of respondents aged 18-39 said they could accept homosexual politicians, the number shrank to roughly 60 percent among people aged 45-54, and to only about 30 percent of people aged 65 or above.

The survey was conducted via telephone and mobile phone interviews from March 25-27 among people aged 18 or older in Taiwan's 22 cities and counties.

A total of 1,082 valid samples were collected with a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 2.99 percentage points, according to a statement issued by the group.