Same-sex Marriage Legalization and the Stigmas of LGBT Co-parenting in Taiwan

In 2019, Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. Celebrated as a victory for global lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights, Taiwan’s 2019 law privileges marriage and biological parent-child ties as the foundation for LGBT family rights and (co-)parental recognition. This article contributes to sociolegal debates about the benefits and limitations of marriage equality by asking how restrictive legal approaches to legitimating LGBT parenthood may harm LGBT families, with consequences both for families ostensibly protected under the new laws and for those denied newly bestowed rights and protections. Drawing from legal and ethnographic research on Taiwan’s same-sex marriage law and the family formation strategies of Taiwanese LGBT parents, we interrogate how marriage equality interacts with related legal domains and prevailing stigmas of illegitimacy, adoption, and homosexuality in Taiwan. Encoded in, and reproduced through, the substance and implementation of law, these stigmas narrow the scope of legal rights and foster potentially discriminatory forms of recognition. The article shows how progressive laws may reduce LGBT family stigma for some, while also creating new stigma interactions that devalue diverse forms of LGBT parenthood.

本文探讨了台湾《748号解释施行法》在赋予同性伴侣婚姻权利和部分亲权的同时，如何通过其法律条文及实施方式延续并产生针对非规范家庭形式的污名化现象。具体而言，研究聚焦于：法律如何通过优先认定婚姻和生物学亲子关系的方式，对多样化的LGBT家庭形成排斥和伤害，以及这种污名化对获得新法律保护的家庭和被排除在外的家庭各自造成的影响。

本文采用综合的社会法律研究方法，结合法律文本分析、法庭收养案例审查、参与式观察及深度访谈等多种方法，深入考察《748号解释施行法》及其相关法律领域对LGBT家庭的影响。作者通过与63个LGBT家庭的访谈（涵盖同性父母、权利活动家、社会工作者及政府官员），以及对11起同性继亲收养案例的法律文书分析，揭示法律和污名之间的互动机制。研究采用跨学科视角，将法学、人类学、性别与性研究的理论框架与田野数据相结合，探讨法律条文、实施过程及社会污名如何在不同层面对LGBT家庭产生象征性和实质性伤害。

本文指出，台湾的748法案在赋予LGBT权利的同时，未能彻底颠覆异性恋规范基础，反而通过婚姻和继亲收养等限制性框架，强化了传统家庭模式和收养的污名化。尽管法案为部分同志家庭提供了合法化机会，却进一步边缘化了未婚伴侣、跨国伴侣及使用辅助生殖技术的家庭，扩大了国家对同志家庭的监督范围。文章呼吁通过赋予跨国伴侣平等权利、扩大辅助生殖技术可及性、保护隐私、减少污名化以及重新构想多元家庭形式的法律框架，来实现LGBT家庭的真正平等。