Transitional Equality in Transnational Context

跨國背景下之過渡性平等

臺灣近年來同性婚姻的合法化以及日本對於同性伴侶新興的法律認可，標示著亞洲對於家庭認可的重要進展。這些發展提供吾人思索臺灣、日本及其他司法管轄區對於多元家庭所提供之形式與實質平等權利間差異之契機。本文檢視臺灣與日本對於家庭承認之近期變化，並與美國伴侶之經驗相結合，以便在充分關注廣泛的法社會學經驗之前提下，在此一發展中平等之探究產生新的視野。
本文考量美國社會脈絡下「過渡性平等」之架構，以確認家庭過渡至具有法律意義下之正式地位的過程。正如同本文在其他地方所述，當一個人或一個階層的人們得到一個新地位或是得到之前被否決的權利時，「從一個法律地位到另一個法律地位的途徑本身即變得至關重要，而可能受到種族、性別、年齡和其他因素的影響。過渡至新地位的過程可能會以意想不到的方式變得複雜及繁複，且若缺乏對於該過程的關注，將會損害人們新獲得之法律權利。」此種過渡之空間值得法社會學界之關注，以致力於為多元家庭建立起更充分的平等。臺灣與日本提供更多的機會檢視婚姻之承認具有反映並建構有關國家認同、種族、民族、性別、年齡、經濟狀況、司法平等以及社會包容和法律主體之文化變遷等更廣泛之規範功能。

The legalization of same-sex marriage in Taiwan in the past few years and emerging legal recognition for same-sex couples in Japan mark important expansions of family recognition in Asia. These developments provide an opportunity to consider the gap between formal and substantive equality in the rights of diverse families in Taiwan, Japan, and other jurisdictions. This essay examines these recent changes in family recognition in Taiwan and Japan alongside experiences of U.S. couples to generate new areas of inquiry into developing equality with full attention to a broad range of socio-legal experience.
This essay considers a framework of “transitional equality” I have discussed in the U.S. context to identify the process of families transitioning into new formal legal status categories.1 As I have described elsewhere, when a person or class of persons obtains a new status or gains previously denied rights, “the path itself from one legal status to another becomes critically important and may itself be impacted by race, gender, age, and other factors. The process of transitioning to a new status can be complex and burdensome in unexpected ways, and lack of attention to that process can impair persons’ inhabitation of their newly acquired legal rights.”2 This transitional space is one worthy of socio-legal attention in the effort to build fuller equality for diverse families. Taiwan and Japan introduce further opportunities to examine the role of marriage recognition in reflecting and constructing broader norms concerning national identity, race, ethnicity, gender, age, economic status, access to justice, and in the cultural contingency of societal inclusion and legal subjectivity.