The Social Movement to Legalize Same-sex Marriage in Taiwan: Mobilizing the Court, the Legislature, and the People

Speaker: Hsiao-wei Kuan, College of Law, National Taipei University, Taiwan

Taiwan will mark the 5th anniversary of legalizing same-sex marriage in May 2024. The achievement of marriage equality in Taiwan unfolded through a complex political process involving judicial, legislative, and popular initiatives. In May 2017, Taiwan's Constitutional Court deemed the Civil Code's denial of equal marriage rights for same-sex couples unconstitutional. This landmark decision gave the legislature a two-year window to revise existing laws or create new ones to permit same-sex marriage. However, this progress faced setbacks when voters approved two anti-same-sex marriage initiatives at the end of 2018. In response, the legislature passed a new law that granted substantive marriage rights to same-sex couples without using the term "marriage" explicitly. This talk will explore how the movement for same-sex marriage leveraged the Constitutional Court, Parliament, and popular support to advance its cause amidst opposition.

Introduced by Yun-chien Chang, Jack G. Clarke Professor in East Asian Law, Cornell

A light lunch will be served. RSVP by August 30, 2024. The lecture venue is subject to change. Those who RSVP will automatically be notified.

Short Bio of the speaker:

Dr. Hsiaowei Kuan is a law professor at the College of Law, National Taipei University in Taiwan. She holds an LL.M. and an S.J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. With a scholarly focus on the intricate intersections of gender and law, legal mobilization, and the vital domains of women's rights and LGBTI+ rights, her written contributions have significantly enriched these fields of study.

Co-sponsored by the Clarke Program in East Asian Law and Culture.

Come learn about opportunities for Cornell faculty to conduct joint research with Zhejiang University (ZJU)!

This virtual meetup will include:

a featured presentation on research supported by a 2022 ZJU-Cornell Joint Seed Grant: Improving crop yield through fundamental understanding of the control of size and shape in plants with Adrienne Roeder (Associate Professor, School of Integrative Plant Science Plant Biology Section, Cornell University) and Lilan Hon (Professor, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University)

an opportunity for any interested Cornell and ZJU faculty to give a quick lightning introduction to their research interests on the theme of future agriculture and sustainability (3-5 min. max per person) to help researchers at both universities get to meet each other

Q&A about the Cornell-ZJU joint seed fund grant program

This event is part of a dialogue series designed to showcase the collaborative research supported by previous rounds of ZJU-Cornell joint seed grants, to create opportunities for mutual understanding of research interest by scholars in our two universities and exchange of ideas for the preparation for upcoming joint seed grants application, and to build a platform for sharing insights on collaborative research experience, cross-disciplinary thinking, and strategies for seeking impact through research.

Previously funded research related to agriculture and sustainability includes: Crop yield and agricultural production are critical for global food security. Efficient agricultural land use, environmental protection (from unintended consequences caused by the release of engineered materials into the environment during agricultural production), and the enhancement of both crop stress tolerance and adaptation to climate change are important issues to address to support long-term outcomes.