Fridae

A candidate for one of Taiwan’s major political parties encouraged other candidates to share their stance on same-sex marriage this week.

The move comes ahead of Taiwan’s general election in January.

“Gay voters have been deceived by politicians for too long, so we hope all presidential and legislative candidates can show sincerity and stop throwing curveballs to voters,” Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Miao Po-ya said.

“Be brave enough to tell the public what you really think in your heart and whether you support marriage equality. Only then will people have a clear basis for casting their ballots,” Miao went on to say, according to Taipei Times.

Miao also encouraged Taiwanese to use their vote wisely and to vote against candidates with anti-LGBT histories. Another SDP candidate,

Lu Hsin-chieh commented that when she decided to run for election many told her to downplay her role as a gay rights activist.

A total of five out of the Green-SDP alliance’s 16 candidates are homosexual.

Some candidates from Taiwan’s Democratic People’s Party (DPP), who are in opposition but look likely to gain control of the Legislative Yuan next year, have showed support for equal marriage in the run up to the election.

In 2013 the DPP introduced a gay marriage bill to the legislative Yuan but it has been shelved due to lack of support from the ruling Kuomintang party.

In February presidential hopeful, Tsai Ing-wen, released a valentine’s video that featured three LGBT couples. She has stopped short of unreserved support of same-sex marriage.