In the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) we embraced human rights and progressive values as our fundamental principles the moment the party was founded in 1986. Over the last 30 years, and when we were in government between 2000-08, we advocated for the respect of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex (LGBTI) rights in Taiwanese society, including the right for same-sex couples to marry and by promoting LGBTI education in Taiwan; equality for LGBTI communities became a very important cause for us.
Even in the face of political backlash, the DPP has maintained unwavering support for LGBTI communities. As a political party, DPP has to tackle the challenges of elections and in the past few years our chairpersons and legislators have publicly demonstrated their support for LGBTI rights, however there are still stark ideological differences between conservative voters and LGBTI rights advocates.
As young Taiwanese people became more open-minded on LGBTI issues and showed more respect to LGBTI groups, DPP has been able to increase its collaboration with pro-equality organizations and individuals.
Although the majority of conservative KMT politicians tended to cooperate with anti-LGBTI organizations, DPP has witnessed an increasing number of party members who are supportive of LGBTI issues relevant to the community.
Taiwan holds Asia’s largest LGBTI Pride Parade every year – a demonstration that Taiwan’s advancement of LGBTI rights can serve as a model for other Asian countries.
This year, the DPP, participated in the Taipei Pride Parade as a political party. Our participation sparked a lot of discussion and many observers thought this move was a risky one during an election year. Nonetheless, when we made the decision to attend, we were driven by the belief that we do not need to conceal our support for the values endorsed by the majority of DPP members and supporters: this embodies our attitude on LGBTI rights.
