Taiwan is About to Legalize Same-Sex Marriage

love

Taiwan might be the first Asian nation to legalize same-sex marriage. The country is working on legislation that will permit people who love each other and are of the same sex to marry, which is a great thing to see! Let’s hope that other places in the region follow suit and begin the process of changing their legal systems to reflect reality.

I think it’s worth noting that some of the earliest posts on this site were about countries doing the same thing. Both Canada and Spain legalized same-sex marriage in 2005.

Taiwanese lawmakers are currently working on three bills in support of marriage equality, one of which is already listed for review and could be passed within months. Same-sex marriage also has the prominent support of President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female head of state.

About 80 percent of Taiwanese between ages 20 and 29 support same-sex marriage, said Tseng Yen-jung, spokeswoman for the group Taiwan LGBT Family Rights Advocacy , citing local university studies. Taiwan’s United Daily News found in a survey taken four years ago that 55 percent of the public supported same-sex marriage, with 37 percent opposed.

Read more.

Taiwan’s Bicycle Makers Love Economic Collapse

my bikeWe all know that the global market is getting shaken around right now and as “the invisible hand” rights (or bails out) the inherent failures of capitalism some people are benefiting from the stress. Bicycle manufactures are benefiting from consumers tightening their belts because bikes are a great way to save money, they also keep you fit, and are good for the environment. Yeah for bicycles!

Exports reached a record high in 2007 of 1.05 billion US dollars with 4.75 million bikes sold abroad, while 2008 looks set to break that record with the export of 2.76 million bikes totalling 635 million US dollars in the first six months, government figures showed.
There is no official data on how many bicycles are sold locally but industry watchers estimate around one million were sold in 2007 on the island of 23 million people.
“Business was booming in 2007 and this year looks to be the best,” said Jeffrey Sheu, spokesman for the world’s leading bicycle maker Giant Inc.
“Our monthly revenue hit a historical high in August and September looks like setting a new record.”
Giant’s August and September group revenue rose 27 percent and 35 percent year-on-year to 3.91 billion and 4.12 billion Taiwan dollars (120 million US and 126 million US) respectively while 2008 revenue is projected to increase by at least 25 percent to 40 billion.

From the It’s-About-Time-Department

Good things happen every day a zillion times a day, sometimes people get to experience those good things before others. Today I found out about two such things:

1. Women’s rights in Sierra Leone have improved thanks to new laws that protect women. Other countries already have such laws in place and it’s great to see yet another country support equality.

2. Taiwan is going to replace their streetlights with LEDs in a US $7 million initiative to cut power consumption of the lights by 85%. LED streetlights are nothing new, but I have no idea if this is the first time that there has been a LED replacement program that is this big.

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