The Taiwan Studies Programme is delighted to announce that Legislator Mei-Nu Yu, a key Taiwanese politician behind Taiwan's most recent marriage-equality billwill be presenting in the 2017/18 series of Taiwan Studies lectures on "Taiwan Pride: Our fight for marriage equality".
The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception at 5.30pm in LG101 Senate Chamber, Trent Building, University Park.
Legislator Mei-Nu Yu will also take part in a public event engagement with Taiwanese LGBT and local English LGBT groups at the Nottingham Contemporary Museum on 6 February 2017 at 7pm.
Watch videos from the event.
Talk abstract
The talk will introduce Taiwan as a democratic country, and its struggle for and achievements in marriage equality and human rights in recent years. Legislator Yu will discuss the history of advocacy work for same-sex marriage in Taiwan over the past 60 years and the current status of legislation in this area. In her talk, she, as a woman who has been engaged in the feminist movement for over 30 years, will also share her experience in pushing equal marriage into the legislative process and why she feels this is important.
Speaker's biography
Legislator Mei-Nu Yu is a Taiwanese politician. She holds a masters degree from National Taiwan University and is a PhD candidate at Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Germany. Yu has served as part of the Legislative Yuan (Taiwan's parliament) since 2012. She is also holds a number of other prestigious positions such as Chair of Taiwan-UK Inter-parliamentary Amity Association, Chair of the Parliamentary Cross-Party Group on International Human Rights, and Emeritus Advisor at the College of Law, National Taiwan University.
As a well-known human rights lawyer, Yu was the first female President of Taipei Bar Association. She was also one of the founding members of Awakening Foundation, the first organisation of women's movement in Taiwan, founding president of the National Alliance of Taiwan Women Association and has served as a member of the Gender Equality Committee in the Executive Yuan. Alongside her advocacy for women's rights, Legislator Yu has been a long and very active supporter for marriage equality in Taiwan. Yu was also one of the key politicians behind Taiwan's most recent marriage-equality bill. In an interview with Associated Press earlier this year, Yu said: "If Taiwan can get this passed…it will give other Asian countries a model."