It was a seismic day yesterday with the United States Supreme Court finally issuing the definitive opinion on the right to gay marriage in the United States. Beyond the elation for the US LBGTQ community, as a lawyer I was fascinated to read the beautifully written Kennedy majority opinion, not to mention the hilariously scathing Scalia dissent. For those wanting marital equality for all, this judicial decision was less an intellectual feat with ramifications for constitutional law analysis and more just “YAY and FINALLY!”
The Asian countries remain mostly steps behind the evolution of gay rights and acceptance, though some countries are further along than others. Taiwan in the last two decades has been a leader in social and governmental acceptance of LBGTQ citizens, and with this US Supreme Court decision the Taiwanese entertainers have come out in full force to show their support by changing their Facebook profiles to the rainbow flag overlay, including my cutie pies Lego Lee and Aaron Yan. This open support for gay rights also comes at the same time that the New Taipei civil administrative agency announced that it will register same-sex couples as legally residing at the same household.
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That's amazing. I was happy when I heard the news report and am very humbled seeing the support from so many people of different countries.
Completely agree! It is incredibly humbling. <3
That's awesome. There is a sense of growth and moving forward with the recent Supreme Court decision and acts of Civil Disobedience and protest going on around the country
Awesome. This is why despite the Hallyu wave and Taiwanese dramas and actors being generally considered not up to scratch compared with their Korean counterparts, I have a special fondness for Taiwanese dramas and artistes.
They show that they are individuals with minds and opinions of their own and are not afraid to take a stand. The Koreans, either due to netizen pressure or their general work culture, just came across as cogs in the entertainment money making machine.
I've been always skeptical of rationality behind the blind trust in the exclusive power and authority given to merely 9 human beings to interpret the US Constitution. It's my belief to ridicule this pitiful result of the majority Supreme Court voting to invalidate the marriage laws based on conventional wisdom. Such a shame!
And it is my belief to ridicule the hysterics of those who cannot keep up with comtemporary thinking and knowledge.
Come on now. If you want to argue, "conventional wisdom" is not gonna cut it.
Well, to be fair, the courts' power (and SC's power) is checked by the legislative and executive branches.
also US courts run by a fire-alarm model, which means they can't just swing a magic wand around and be like "Hm, I want to solve this problem X way or that problem Y way". They have to wait until people bring a case to them, ie "pulling the fire alarm".
Don't be ridiculous. Man-made laws are always evolving, not to mention the US Supremes have been interpreting jurisprudence since the dawn of the nation. You can't pick and choose your battles, either say "away with the judiciary!" as a whole or accept at any time that the justices may decide a decision you personally don't agree with.
As for this particular decision, not supporting the legal right to gay marriage (legal, not moral) is squarely on the wrong side of history. It's like when the slavery was abolished and being on the side that believed people should have the right to own slaves. Or when segregation was ending and being on the side of believing people had the right to segregate based on race.
There are seismic shifts from time to time, this happens to be one of them. Not supporting gay marriage can remain a personal decision, but it's one that will increasingly render you a close-minded bigot hiding behind religious or traditional beliefs on marital unions. Hell, polygamy was the conventional marriage law for centuries across many civilizations, how did it become obsolete in the modern era? Because conventions change and rightly so to reflect the evolution of human beliefs.
You can argue based on the history of civil laws and the US Constitution. The American litigation system with the court decision based on legal case history oftentimes provokes controversy. For me, I judge according to my religious belief, regardless of if it's political correct or not. Not supporting gay marriage is apparently against the tide of current political correctness that usually swings with time and for many people like me, is dubious. Besides, to put gay right movement including marriage legalization and the civil right movement side by side in comparison is like comparing orange to apple. I don't see any logical analogy to be drawn from gay marriage to the liberation of slavery.
Besides, it's too early for anyone to declare that people who are against gay marriage are on the wrong side of history. Sorry for my being abrasive next...who are you to determine what will happen even in next minute of your life that's not fully under your control, not to mention how are you so confidently declare how the human history will turn out. LOL...It's all in God's hands. As a highly trained professional in science/engineering field, it appears so comical to me that many people without rigorous logic and scientific training would be so sure about what will definitely happen. Apparently many people are not consciously aware of the wonder of the nature and how it's impossible to have such an orderly law of the nature without purposeful creation by supernatural power from the probability theory. There's a supreme creator who reigns the universe beyond the 9-creature governed supreme court. You can be an atheist. But you can't defy the existence of the force of the nature. My point of long preach: The history is totally in the creator God's hands. And from what I believe, gay marriage is against the purpose and the order of creation. The US Supreme Court's decision is against God's will.
@Drama2015 Didn't God give people free will? So if they use it to marry whoever they want, what is it to you? Why do you care? How will it personally affect you? If it's against God's will then shouldn't you leave it to him to judge when the time comes?
@Drama2015 I'll answer that food analogy of yours. Orange and apple are both fruits, its not about comparing a difference between the two, its about asking why one should be considered more as a fruit over the other? The answer is none, because even if you prefer one over the other, neither of them becomes lesser as a fruit. Now apply it to the gay rights movement, hetero and homo are both humans. So why should one be treated any less over their preference in coupling? The answer is that they shouldn't be, because liking the same sex doesn't doesn't make them less human.
@Gumiho_bean, LOL...what logic of your fruit comparison! This is about what you believe what's right or wrong. "liking the same sex doesn't make them less human"...Then it would be rightful to claim having an extramarital affair doesn't make an adulterer/adulteress less human...or having incest doesn't make a pervert less human. LOL...nothing is wrong about these dubious claims because basically each human being is an innate sinner and can commit an insidious act at any time. But still, it's clear from my belief in the Bible that gay marriage is against God's will and is not to the benefit of human beings by design. Don't debate with me because you're not gonna change my opinions about what's right or wrong even you label me with the most insulting name calling. I still ridicule this supreme court 5-4 decision. LOL at 9 human being what-so-called supreme intellectual...What a pity!
Jasper (Liu Yi Hao) also changed his facebook profile picture yesterday: https://www.facebook.com/109078869110302/photos/a.154616924556496.31911.109078869110302/1049569038394609/?type=1&theater
I feel that the Taiwanese entertainment industry are pretty open about these kind of issues. There are also several tw-celebrities who openly admitted their sexual orientation.
That's very cool. Not sure it's gonna go the same way in Korea. Homophobia is almost seen as natural by the mainstream (or hardly condemned), and seeing how ethically pragmatic most management agencies are... mmm.
Probably true, but Seoul Pride did go ahead today – it was initially banned by police, but then the decision was overturned in court – and seemed well attended (even if protesters were out as well). Check out Twitter for some of the coverage (@JunMichaelPark and @MarkZastrow were two photojournalists live-tweeting it).
The photos I saw were mostly of young people – but that's okay, because eventually that'll be why things change.
Not sure about Koreans celebrities & marriage equality, although I did see a tweet in support from eaeon_ (of the indie band Mot).
I have no doubt that plenty of young Koreans (generally more multicultural and cosmopolitan than their parents were) support this, but I was mostly thinking of agencies and celebs -- where you have to weigh the consequences of any public statement you make. You expose yourself as a "homo supporter" and they'll brand you to the point that advertisers will ignore you because you represent a "fringe opinion." There are still supposedly well-behaving members of society who think this is a disease.
Remember that despite great inroads made by recent queer cinema, the large majority of gay portrayals in the media still adheres to the stereotypical "fabulous" Hong Seok-Cheon canon. And Mot is pretty far off the mainstream, methinks. I'd be more pleasantly surprised if someone from the jailbat pop sphere did something like that.
Yes, I'm sure you're right with regards to agencies and celebs. Mot is off course way of mainstream (not k-indie for nothing), but I'm still glad to see the open vote of support. I only follow two or three other celebs on twitter, one currently in the army and the other very mainstream and currently promoting a drama about to start – so not a peep there of course.
But in 10 years, we'll be somewhere else. I have no doubt.
Hopefully. But it's likely that it won't be reflected by portrayals in the media, at least not on TV. Unless there's a huge viewership paradigm shift in the next decade.
Sad times if people are even considering this
Awesome. I happen to be in Taiwan right now and woke up to see this SCOTUS ruling fill my Facebook feed. It was wonderful.
Whatever it is, just remember that God created Adam & Eve, not Adam & Steve or Dana & Eve.
Repent!!!!
Poor, poor sad & narrow-minded creature. Your imaginary intolerant god is not welcome in that debate (silence is deafening anyway). Good for us, the rational humans who prefer to rely on existing human love (cause yeah, sex despite your fixation is not everything there is to see here).
Modern world: 1 - Religiots: 0.
I believe either God is pitying you now or simply laughing at your ignorance. Who's sad & narrow-minded? LOL...Don't be so confident of what you think is smart. Leave it to the history to judge.
I don't care if i don't fit in this so called modern world, God created me not to be transformed into what the world dictates. I could care less that i am called names, because in the end those words are meaningless. The only thing matters is God find me worthy enough to be in His presence.
Thanks for calling the God I have faith in as narrow minded, let's just see where you'll end up once your temporary journey on earth is done.
let's not forget that eve had sex with her own son, so...
LOL...did you ever read bible? Where's your claim from?
I agree with Chocola. We are moving towards sodom and gomorrah and we all know what happened there and the black sea
hahah....LOL.....Good sarcasm!
A monumental decision by the Supreme Court! A big step forward! The whole of social media is abuzz with it and it's all very colourful. I'm pleased with the ruling and can't wait to read the judgment (just gotta eke out the time for it!).