TLY | Report for The First Session of Legislative Yuan

04-14

This article only shares the opinion from the delegate of the conference held by ModelUN and has nothing to do with the outside of the SYMUN.

The first session of Legislative Yuan begins with an intensive discussion on the

agenda. When exploring the method for resolving issues on same-sex marriage, two

positions arise from the conference: one suggests establishing a new law for

same-sex couples, the other one argues that it』s better to amend the current ordinances

of the Civil Code. Delegates argue for their own preference among these two

options based on the background of distinct roles they represent, and the

central argument is that should people pay attention to the equality more or

the standard of protection more. For those who want to establish a new code,

they consider that a complete, brand new law can bring better welfare to

same-sex couples. However, it also automatically damages the dignity of gender

minority since it is treated differently compared with heterosexual marriage.

On the other hand, those who agree to amend the current code regard the

equality as priority, but the policy of protection might not be as mature as

the protection provided by a separate law that thoroughly forsakes the

restriction of conventional thoughts from the Civil Code.

A variety of critical topics are stressed in several moderated caucuses,

including the feasibility of two options, the efficiency on solving

discrimination, or the possibility to alleviate religious conflicts focusing on

same-sex marriage. After the first quarter of today』s session, many journalists

expect that more delegates come up to the stage, propose strong statements of

their preference supported with detailed research or reasoning. Nonetheless, it

turns out that delegates speak in a more general way, which makes their

position clear enough, but not credible.

For instance, one delegate proclaims that it』s inefficient to establish a new code

due to tremendous expense on resources and personnel. It』s is a very solid

thesis, but then the delegate beats around the bush by emphasizing the possible

influence towards the society or different individuals caused by establishing

the new code. This speech eventually becomes valueless since it gradually gets

less persuasive.

To evaluate the condition of delegates, it seems that delegates are not familiar with

how to approach to a more specific issue from a general start. During the press

conference, addressing what is going to be the first detail the conference will

establish a law for, a question is presented by a journalist to a random

delegate. The delegate neither offers a clear topic for that, nor explains why

choose a certain topic to begin with. A lot of conceptions about same-sex

marriage are still murky to many delegates. Thus, in order to continue this

conference while accomplish some pragmatic progress on same-sex marriage issue,

it』s necessary for each delegate to investigate more on recent controversies

between roles in Legislative Yuan and different sexual orientations.

The Author：Chi Gao