13 Dec 2016

Taiwan same-sex marriage campaign fundraising success

Online campaigns to raise funds for newspaper advertisements and concerts have reached targets faster than expected.

An online campaign by the Plain Law Movement to raise funds for newspaper advertisements publicizing legislative proposals about same-sex marriage has reached its target faster than expected.

Plain Law Movement, a blog organized by legal experts and dedicated to translating laws and rulings into plain and simple language for the general public, plans to run front page advertisements in Saturday’s newspapers ahead of a concert to promote same sex marriage outside the Presidential Office Building in Taipei.

The campaign surpassed its goal of US$51,721 for ads in Apple Daily and United Daily News within a few hours.

After reaching its total the blog was closed and encouraged people to donate to a fundraising effort by five civic groups organising the Saturday afternoon concert at support.equallove.tw.

This campaign had reached US$300,000, over three times the target, by Friday morning.

The groups — the Taiwan Tongzhi (LGBT) Hotline Association, the Taiwan LGBT Family Rights Advocacy, the Awakening Foundation, the Lobby Alliance for LGBT Human Rights and the Queermosa Awards — said the money would be used to create videos and staff at the concert.