2023 World Same-Sex Marriage and LGBT Rights Progress – Part 3: Asia

Earlier in this series – Part 1: North America | Part 2: Latin America & Caribbean

2023 turned out be a big year for the advancement of queer rights in Asia, with same-sex marriage becoming legal in Nepal and on the cusp of becoming legal in Thailand, a growing movement for it in Japan, and adoption becoming legal in Taiwan and Israel.

These were the big news stories of 2023.

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South Asia

Nepal: The biggest news from Asia this year came from the Himalayas, where a Supreme Court judge ordered the country to begin registering same-sex marriages. While it took months for the government to actually implement the order, eventually the first same-sex couple was able to register their marriage. As yet, there isn’t a lot of evidence that many couples have taken advantage of their new right to get married, but it is now the law of the land. This marks several firsts in the equal marriage movement. Nepal is the first UN member state in Asia (Taiwan is not a member), the first country in South Asia, and the first least-developed country to legalize same-sex marriage. Congratulations, Nepal!

India: The next-biggest news of the year was in India, where the Supreme Court took up an equal marriage case, but unfortunately rejected the plaintiffs’ pleas to legalize it. The decision quite strangely acknowledged that the situation was unconstitutionally discriminatory but left it up to Parliament or the individual states to rectify. The judgement also included a number of orders for the government to act to otherwise protect queer Indians’ rights. In the wake of the decision, a regional court in Tamil Nadu has recommended the state implement some form of civil union, but no action has been taken as yet.

The government has been working on recompiling the various criminal laws to shed colonial elements. There was some concern that the new bills may recriminalize sodomy, which didn’t happen. However, it does appear that the bill that was brought forward out of consultations maintained rape as a specifically gendered crime, which would essentially leave male-on-male sexual assaults legal. I’m not sure this has gotten fixed, but it could still be addressed in the legislative process. The draft bill also did not reduce or eliminate the death penalty as had been hoped.

Other developments this year were that a court found that trans women were included in the Domestic Violence Act (if they have undergone sex reassignment surgery), and there are ongoing discussions on whether to allow trans people to serve in the military.

Sri Lanka: A bill to repeal the colonial-era sodomy law, which the courts have ruled is unenforceable but left to Parliament to repeal, has not made any progress in Parliament amid the country’s ongoing and long-running political and economic crises. The Supreme Court greenlit the bill in May.

Pakistan: The Shariat Court ruled the Transgender (Protection of Persons Act) 2019 was unconstitutional, but the ruling is stayed pending further appeals. Later in the year, a lower court in Lahore upheld the act, and ordered civil registries to offer trans people updated identification as the law requires.

East Asia

China: The most important developments on LGBT rights happened in Hong Kong, which is still technically semi-autonomous, despite an increasing crackdown from Beijing.

The local courts made the biggest moves for queer people in Hong Kong this year. In February, the Court of Final Appeal found that the requirement for sex reassignment surgery to change legal gender was unconstitutional; the government has not yet updated its policy, however.

In September, the Court of Final Appeal also found that the government was required to offer some kind of recognition of same-sex relationships, but gave the government two years to implement it.

Taiwan: The legislature updated adoption laws to allow same-sex couples full adoption rights this year.

Japan: 2023 saw a big expansion in the number of prefectures offering same-sex couple registries. Nine prefectures opened registries in 2023 – Shizuoka, Toyama, Nagano, Gifu, Kagawa, Shimane, Tottori, Fukui, Yamanashi. Eight more have announced that they will open registries in 2024 – Yamagata, Aichi, Tokushima, Niigata, Oita, Wakayama, Hyogo, and Shiga. That will bring the total to 27 out of Japan’s 47 prefectures with partnership systems, plus one more where every municipality in the prefecture has its own registry (Kanagawa) and one that recognizes municipal-level registrations (Iwate). Additionally, a total of 344 municipalities in Japan offer local registries (although some of these overlap with prefecture-level registries). These are home to more than 2/3 of the Japanese population.

District courts in Nagoya and Fukuoka ruled that the ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, but left it to Parliament to fix. So far, of five district courts that have ruled on same-sex marriage, three found the ban unconstitutional, and two found it constitutional. The rulings are all being appealed, with new rulings expected in 2024, and a likely escalation to the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, two opposition parties submitted bills to legalize same-sex marriage in 2023, but neither is likely to pass. A Pew research poll found majority support for same-sex marriage in Japan.

In other legislative news, the government struggled to pass a non-discrimination bill ahead of hosting the G7 in June, and ended up with an anodyne “LGBT Understanding Act,” which doesn’t really ban discrimination at all.

Japan also revised its sex crime laws, raising the universal age of consent from 13 to 16 years.

Finally, the Japanese Supreme Court ruled that the sterilization requirement to update legal gender was unconstitutional.

South Korea: In a major setback, the Constitutional Court reversed a ruling of the Supreme Court that struck down the military’s gay sex ban last year. Since all Korean men must serve in the military, this is in some ways, a national criminalization of gay sex.

The Seoul High Court ruled that the National Health Insurance Service was required to provide coverage to same-sex spouses.

Seoul City Council also blocked the LGBT Pride Festival from taking place outside City Hall, instead giving its permit to a Christian Festival.

Southeast Asia

Thailand: A political consensus seems to have emerged around same-sex marriage, and Thailand looks likely to be the next country to legalize it, which would be a huge milestone for this part of the world.

Last year, Parliament began debate on equal marriage bills, but they failed to pass before elections in May. Those elections were won by the progressive Move Forward Party, but the military-controlled Senate blocked the party from forming a government. The government that did eventually form promised to take up many of Move Forward’s progressive policies, including same-sex marriage. When it did finally introduce the equal marriage bill in December, it passed first reading in an incredibly lopsided 369-10 vote. It’s now in the committee stage, where legislators will compare four different marriage bills and bring a final bill to parliament, expected in early March.

Move Forward had also proposed legal gender change options and decriminalization of sex work; we’ll see if those priorities have survived in the new year.

Philippines: Congress continued to dawdle over a proposed sexual orientation and gender identity non-discrimination bill (the “SOGIE Bill”), as it has for the past twenty years. But last week, the President announced the creation of an LGBT consultation board that will allow queer people to participate directly in policy making.

The Quezon City government created a “Right to Care” card that allows same-sex partners the ability to make hospital visits and medical decisions on each other’s behalf, filling a legislative void. It’s a first for couple recognition in the country. Lapu-Lapu City became the latest to pass a local non-discrimination ordinance.

Singapore: In the wake of last year’s sodomy decriminalization, Singapore queers are gearing up for other rights battles, including gender change and eventually marriage equality. A Pew poll found opposition to same-sex marriage only had 51% support compared to 45% who supported it.

Malaysia: The government cracked down on LGBT expression in extremely stupid, headline-grabbing ways in 2023, like when they went to war with watchmakers Swatch over a set of rainbow-colored watch bands. English rock band The 1975 also generated controversy when lead singer Matty Healy criticized the country’s anti-LGBT laws while on stage in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia also took steps to drastically reduce use of the death penalty, by ending its mandatory use for certain crimes.

A federal court began hearing a challenge to several Sharia laws in the state of Kelantan, including the sodomy law. A federal court has struck down state-level sodomy laws before in Malaysia on separation-of-powers grounds. However, even if they do, Malaysia’s federal laws prohibit gay sex anyway. The upshot is that the federal government has been seen as less enthusiastic about enforcing sodomy laws than state police have.

Cambodia: LGBT activists are consulting with the government on marriage equality, and while the government appears open to the idea, they’re saying it will likely be a long process. Pew found majority support for same-sex marriage here.

Vietnam: Pew found majority support for same-sex marriage here. A proposal was introduced to standardize legal gender recognition.

Central Asia

Kyrgyzstan: The government passed a new law criminalizing speech that “denounces family and traditional societal values, promotes non-traditional sexual relations and initiates disrespect towards parents or other family members.”

Uzbekistan: The country ratified a new constitution that includes a section guaranteeing equality before the law, but it doesn’t specifically prohibit sexual orientation discrimination.

Middle East

The Middle East remained one of the most challenging regions not only for the global LGBT rights movement in 2023, but for the protection of human rights and democracy generally.

Much of the region was beset by intra- and inter-state war and governed by autocrats, including the ongoing civil wars in Syria and Yemen, and the conflict in Israel and Palestine. And that’s not even counting the nearby conflicts in Nagorno-Karabakh, Sudan, and the Horn of Africa. All of these conflicts have made life worse for queer people in the region.

Beyond that, there were a few stories to note.

Israel/Palestine: Obviously, we have to discuss the ongoing war. But before we get to that, Israel’s far-right government began the year by taking actions that would be deeply impactful to the LGBT community. Prime Minister Netanyahu introduced legislation that would critically weaken Israel’s Supreme Court, giving the legislature the power to overturn its rulings, limiting the court’s power of judicial review, and giving the government power over judicial appointments. This was deeply concerning to queer Israelis in particular, because much of Israel’s advancements on LGBT rights have come from the judiciary over the objections of the legislature, and the dominance of the far-right in Israeli politics made it seem like not only would further progress be impossible, but the government might begin to roll back hard-won rights. Indeed, some of Netanyahu’s coalition partners were pretty blunt that that’s their goal. This led to months of massive protests across Israeli society, which some say contributed to the military’s unpreparedness for the Oct. 7 attacks.

Netanyahu temporarily backed down, but then forced through part of the reform in July. The whole reform process was then backburnered by the outbreak of war in October, and then right before the end of the year, the Supreme Court blocked the reforms that had been pushed through.

Hamas’ Oct 7 attacks were horrific, brutal, and far beyond anything that is acceptable in war, even in the context of a national liberation struggle. Moreover, Hamas’ publicly stated indifference to the fate of the Palestinians who have now found themselves trapped in an open war zone is a serious abdication of responsibility to govern for its citizens. Even if they weren’t calling for repeats of Oct. 7 until the entire Jewish population of Israel is liquidated, it’s hard to conceive of Hamas as any legitimate or rational government that can be negotiated with.

That said, Israel’s military response to the attack – and Egypt’s cooperation with maintaining the blockade on Gaza – has created an incredibly dire humanitarian situation for the 2 million Palestinians who remain there, and the occasional outbursts from Israeli government officials who reveal genocidal fantasies about the region don’t help Israel appear to be a trustworthy partner for a peaceful future, either.

So where does that leave us? Well, shortly into the war, the Israeli Knesset passed laws recognizing the same-sex partners of soldiers and victims of the Oct. 7 attacks, quite a departure after Netanyahu’s government has fought tooth and nail against queer couples.

And Netanyahu’s approval ratings are in the toilet. If and when Israelis go to the polls – not likely until after the current war is over and it’s also possible that his coalition clings together until the next scheduled elections in 2026 – there’s a good chance for a realignment of Israeli politics that brings the left and moderates back to power. But then again, Netanyahu’s crawled back from political oblivion before, and voters might reward him if the war does eventually achieve its aims of dismantling Hamas.

A return to power for moderates would likely be a big victory for Israel’s queer community, but may finally improve the chances for peace in the region, and consequently improve Palestinians’ lives as well.

Finally, to end on a positive note, just this week, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled unanimously that same-sex couples have the right to adopt children under existing law.

Lebanon: In August, a district court of appeal found that consensual gay sex was not illegal under Lebanese law, following four similar judgements from lower courts beginning in 2007. The law remains on the books, but the direction of these rulings is encouraging. A group of nine MPs also introduced a bill to repeal the unnatural sex law.

Nevertheless, there have been reported anti-LGBT incidents from both Christian and Muslim communities in Lebanon this year, including the Secretary-General of Hezbollah calling for all gays to be murdered. A bill was also introduced in Parliament to ban the promotion of homosexuality.

Iraq: Parliament approved at first reading a bill that would impose the death penalty for gay sex. It remains in process. Bills were also introduced to punish acts of effeminacy and prohibit sex and gender changes.

Jordan: A new cybercrimes bill makes the spread of “debauchery” on the internet a crime.

Bahrain: A bill was introduced to criminalize gay sex.

United Arab Emirates: The country grabbed headlines this year when it banned Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse for a blink-and-you-miss-it trans pride flag that appears in a shot. It also ordered Amazon to block search terms relating to LGBT items.

Qatar: Qatar deported an Indonesian employee of Qatar Airways because he possessed tinted moisturizer, as part of a renewed crackdown on LGBT people and suspected LGBT people following the World Cup.

Oman: A shopkeeper got in trouble for selling rainbow-colored stationery.

Iran: Months of protests against the regime and for women’s rights that began last year seem to have fizzled out this year, amid a harsh government crackdown against protesters.

Tomorrow, I’ll be back with a look at LGBT rights progress in Africa and Oceania.