Same-sex marriage in Asia inevitable, says gay rights activist – ‘Ireland was so conservative ... yet Ireland changed its views’

Rory O’Neill, also known as drag queen Panti Bliss, was instrumental in the campaign in Ireland for marriage equality in 2015

He says the Asian LGBTIQ community must become more visible and show they are ‘just as boring and ordinary as everyone else’

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Irish gay rights activist Rory O'Neil (aka drag queen Panti Bliss) in Hong Kong. “The power of the personal story and coming out is what changes societies,” he says. Photo: Tory Ho

Published: 6:00pm, 29 May 2019Updated: 7:53pm, 30 May 2019

It’s only a matter of time before other parts of Asia start following in Taiwan’s footsteps to legalise same-sex marriage, says the face of Ireland’s successful marriage equality campaign.

Gay rights activist Rory O’Neill, also known as Irish drag queen Panti Bliss, was instrumental in Ireland’s fight for marriage equality in 2015. Panti became the poster queen for the yes campaign early on in the debate to amend the staunchly Catholic country’s constitution to enable same-sex marriage.

“Every country’s journey to marriage equality is different but in general the arc is moving towards equality, and what Taiwan will do for this part of the world is to show the rest of Asia that the sky doesn’t fall down, that kids still go to school and the sun still comes up in the morning when you allow gays to get married,” says the 50-year-old, during a visit to Hong Kong and China to speak with LGBTIQ groups about changing attitudes towards homosexuality.

Taiwan made history last week by holding Asia’s first legal gay weddings after lawmakers made a landmark decision in May to legalise same-sex marriage. Despite a referendum last year rejecting the legalisation in Taiwan, lawmakers pushed forward with the change, making the self-ruled island the first administration in Asia to recognise homosexual civil unions.

“Doing it legislatively does not change hearts and minds,” O’Neill admits, “but legislation can lead the way – it can open a door and a space for gay people to get married, and for the rest of Taiwan to see that their neighbours got married and six months later everything is fine and they are still good neighbours, [for example].”