Gay Marriage in China - Research Paper Example

Gay Marriage in China Gay individuals are equal human beings as others; they desire to share happiness with their loved ones cohabiting together without fear and doubts. Conceivably, people need to understand that every union has a fundamental objective to create a unification of individuals who love one another. According to Derek (1), gay marriage does not breach the laws of China and hence the desire by the gays to be united does not therefore infringe their privileges and rights as Chinese citizens. Beijing has the opportunity to utilize the approval of gay marriage as substantiation to the world and its attempts in safeguarding the human rights. This will enable the city to gain an upper hand over the U.S, which has simply authorized gay people to serve transparently in the military. As opposed to the Catholic devoted nations, Derek (1) continues to argue that gays have never actually grimaced upon the traditions of the Chinese customs, which makes it easier to safeguard the homosexual society. From an empirical perception, the ratio of men engaging in homosexual relation and were infected with HIV/AIDS is more than 5% and it is quickly on the increase. It is believed that confirmation or approval to gay marriage in China will give more room for quite a large number of homosexuals and lesbians to create a lasting relationship. According to the latest release by the Chinese state, the government has formulated new strategies of fighting HIV/AIDS. The government targets to supply condoms in more than 95% of hotels and public venues as well as minimize the rate of new infections by about 25% by the year 2015. Therefore, there should be no argument in regard to gay relation resulting into more infections since other strategies can be used to minimize the infections and contraction of HIV/AIDS. Besides, gay marriage has been used as a strategy of preventing gay men from being compelled to marry women between pressures hence avoiding a number of tragedies. About 16 million Chinese women are married to gay men according to experts (Eskridge and Darren 234). In addition there are so many gays and lesbians (52 million and 39 million respectively) in china where if gay marriage is allowed it will be a big boost to reduce the pressure on the population being experienced in the country. It is disappointing to see lesbians being forced to marry gays just to reduce the population pressure and as a result leading to various tragedies within the society-the tragedies that can be prevented by allowing gay marriage to prevail. On the contrary, if the gays in China as well as other professionals are careful about the prospects of the bill concerning gay marriage, it is doubtful as to whether a nation that has high regard for morality will be more supportive in this view. Actually, there is always a genesis for everything in life. The fight for legalization of gay marriage must start at some point hence the need for activists to come forth and support the bill. 1997 was a turning point for the gay community. This is the year homosexuality was decriminalized in China way before the anti-sodomy legislature was removed by the United States in some states. Currently, there no official laws that prevent discrimination over the LGBT individuals in China in particular at the work place. Since the ministry of Health in China did away with homosexuality from its schedule of mental disorders in the year 2001, the public opinion and government policy has again shifted gradually. The ministry of public health has been focusing on the gay bars with public awareness movement championing for safe sex and HIV examination. However, in general, LGBT individuals in China have now shifted uneasily into grey area where they are no longer harassed directly or ignored. It is evident that China is moving stealthily to higher tolerance but this seems to be taking longer until the approval of same-sex marriage by the government if it will ever occur (Newton 37). It is also a high time various professionals and advocates for this course come out in large numbers and press for legislation of gay marriage. This must take the efforts from the academy of social sciences of China and other legislators to push for this campaign. Unfortunately, there are various high ranking state officials who are thwarting the efforts of legalizing gay marriage by coercing and intimidating activists such as Li Yinhe in their efforts to push for the legalization of same-sex marriage. Some officials claim that China has gone too far in just 15 years in authorizing same-sex unions as fellow humans. It is our responsibility as younger generation to do away with the old generation’s point of view in connection to Confucian perception of family and filial piousness become more distant, the country will at some point accept same-sex union. It might not be any time soon but that time will come (Eskridge and Darren 234). Perchance, the biggest obstacle to rights of LGBT is the culture of the family, which puts more weight on having children as a filial responsibility. Moreover, another obstacle might be the one child policy in China, which intensifies the pressure that only sons are to extend the family lineage. Nonetheless, the extensive atheism might also imply that there is erosion of the morals that exemplifies the opposition to religious rights to same-sex marriage in the United States Gay and lesbianism has been put on record in the history of China and rich literature since the era of Han dynasty. The Chinese euphemism for gays, “cut sleeve,” connotes to a prodigy of an emperor who had to cut his own sleeve, which his male partner was sleeping on for mere reason of not waking him up. Going back in history about legalization of gay marriage, in 2003 the Taiwanese state’s executive Yuan made suggestions of legalizing the gay marriage under the umbrella of Human Rights Basic law. This was never accepted as the executive branch could not pass the bill and hence it was rejected due to heavy opposition by legislators that came to surface again in 2006. Even though the then president Ma Ying-jeou who was also the Chairman of the ruling Kuomintang had high regards for LGBT privileges was not able to approve the law due to high public support for its rejection. This has since stalled (Eskridge and Darren 234). The chairman of the opposition party Democratic Progressive Party Mr. Su Tseng-Cheng has openly supported gay marriage. As a result, DPP was divided on this issue where some lawmakers supported gay marriage while others opposed gay marriage. Under the legislative Yuan, a bill that was initiated by a petition was introduced for revision on 25th October, 2013. The bill was intended to approve gay marriage presented by 23 legislators from the opposition party but the bill was instantly referred back to the Judicial Yuan committee for assessment and probably its first reading. These are some of the efforts by top legislators who have made efforts to legalize gay union in China and its states. What does this show? This shows that this is a matter that can be easily debated and passed into law after careful consideration without introducing the ways of our ancestors (Eskridge and Darren 234). Most notably, a poll that was conducted among 6,439 Taiwanese adults and released in 2006 April by the Constitution for Reform Alliance and the National Union of Taiwan Women’s Association concluded that 75% of the respondents were convinced that gay relation was okay whilst 25% believed that this was totally unacceptable. Furthermore, a poll that was released in August 2013 revealed that 56% of the Taiwanese individuals supported gay marriage while only 37% were in opposition. Amongst the individuals between the age of 20 and 29, the support was highest with about 78%. The major area of opposition was in the Christianity community of Taiwan where only 25% of them were in support of gay union (Eskridge and Darren 2340. Other polls that were conducted among the Taiwanese community are so far indifferent over gay marriage substantiation. For example, a poll conducted in 2013 November amongst 1377 adults by the cable news network showed that 45% of the people opposed gay union whilst only 40% were in support of gay marriage (Newton 37). The rest were indifferent about the issue. Among all this polls that were conducted in Taiwan, there is a slight indication that many individuals are in high support of gay union. The fraction or proportion that is indifferent about the issue is divided between their opinion and the religious values from which they are affiliated to. As a result, some or most of them will tend to keep silent over the issue while their inner beings assures them that there is nothing wrong with legalization of gay marriage. The society has been embedded in a long history of traditions, which the community is not ready to relinquish. Thus, conservatism and religious coalition tend to impact great harm to the passing of the bill. This means that the gay activists in China are obliged to apply unique tactics than their counterparts in the western community. Gay union has been debated less as a general human right than a concern with high implications for harmony and social well-being in the national discourse of China. Some experts approximate that 16 million women are united in marriage to bisexual or gay and due to imbalance in gender, there are about 15% of men’s population in China who are not able to find a wife. In this case, gay marriage could make an empirical validity as a social policy (Newton 37). As mentioned before, there are about 80% of gay men marrying straight women a scenario that does more harm to the community. The latest shift in legislature is making it simpler for women to denounce these unions in the event they discover that their husbands are gay. Activists on the other hand argue that this simply puts ignorance to the actual solution to the problem where they offer gay union as the best solution. Another alternative that might be optional but not optimal is gay men marrying lesbians, which might lead into sham marriages (Tania 1). This is a fact and a strategy that is being employed by many gays and lesbians as the most empirical method of satisfying their duty to their families. Most of these individuals are majorly from the rural communities who are not in a position to understand the ideology of being gay or simply accepting the issue in the community. The Chinese gay life assumes economic and geographic division the same way it does in the United States and other bigger cities in China, which are homes to big community of gay people with nocturnal life being on the rise in the recent decade. Taiwan, which is regarded as part of the Chinese province, is a haven for famous gay clubs, which has been in business for a long time. This has led to the belief that the owners and proprietors of the club have a high influence on the local authority. Some people believe that Taiwan will among the first Chinese province to legalize gay union which means since China regards Taiwan as a province hypothetically this inspires the activists and policymakers in the mainland of China to push for legalization gay union in the entire Chinese republic (Steven 1). As much many are in support of the idea of legalizing gay marriage, there is also need to slow down the efforts to prevent culture shock. Majority of Chinese who live in the rural areas are still strongly rooted in the conservatism and traditions, which opposes gay marriage. Therefore, caution need to be taken to prevent imposing new laws that may come an s a big surprise to the conservatisms. It is however, possible to come to the imagination that China is not far from future as far as gay union and its legalization is concerned especially in the middle kingdom. This goes as far as appreciating that gay people are normal human beings and must be treated with respect without discrimination like other people. Works Cited Derek Yiu. Leading Chinese Scholar seeking support for gay marriage bill again. Beijing: Gaystarnews. 2012. Internet Source. Retrieved on 16th April, 2014 from, http://www.gaystarnews.com/article/leading-chinese-scholar-seeking-support-gay-marriage-bill-again040312 Eskridge, William N, and Darren R. Spedale. Gay Marriage: For Better or for Worse? : What we’ve learned from the Evidence. Oxford [u.a.: Oxford Univ. Press, 2006. Print. Newton, David E. Same-sex Marriage: A Reference Handbook. Santa Barbara, Calif: ABC-CLIO, 2010. Print. Steven Jiang. In China, activists fight for Gay marriage. London: CNN. 2013. Internet Source. Retrieved on 16th April, 2014 from, http://www.cnn.com/2013/06/27/world/asia/china-gay-rights-jiang/ Tania Branigan. Beijing’s happy couples launch campaign for same sex-marriages. Beijing: The Guardian. 2009. Internet resource. Retrieved on 16th April, 2014 from, http://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/feb/25/gay-rights-china-beijing Read More