Gay-rights rulings in Taiwan and Hong Kong may sway the mainland

Proud in Taipei

THOSE who rely on China’s official news outlets may not realise that it has been a busy few days for gay rights in Greater China. The state-run media made little of the ruling from Taiwan’s highest court on May 24th that ordered parliament to enact a law giving gay couples the right to marry within two years. They also largely disregarded a narrower ruling two days later, from Hong Kong’s top court, that the government could not deny the partner of a gay official benefits that are enjoyed by the spouses of other civil servants (the pair had married in New Zealand, so far the only country east of Suez to allow gay couples to do so).

Ordinary Chinese, however, were not so muted. Weibo, China’s Twitter, lit up with millions of reactions, most of them positive. “Love disregards male or female, young or old, strong or weak,” wrote Zhang Xinyuan in a typical comment. Sun Wenlin, who sued in court in 2016 to have his marriage to his male...Continue reading

Source: China http://ift.tt/2siyscs

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