Nations on every continent are considering whether to let same-sex couples marry or to have some other form of legal recognition. Vietnam is the most recent country to take up the issue. Last month, Vietnam’s Ministry of Justice and the United Nations Development Program invited CPPA Director Lee Badgett to Hanoi to give a keynote address at a workshop.
Badgett reports on her visit:
Formally, the ministry of justice is considering proposals for revisions of the country’s family and marriage laws, and they have a long list of topics they are considering. Somewhat to the surprise of many observers, same-sex couples are on the list.
The workshop was designed to bring together members of the local LGBT communities along with experts with knowledge of international human rights law and the international experience of countries that already recognize same sex couples. The Ministry of Justice explicitly wanted an evidence-based approach to thinking about the needs of same-sex couples and the consequences of legal recognition.
I spoke first on the harms of denying recognition to same sex couples, presenting evidence mainly from the United States. But that evidence was corroborated by the Vietnamese same-sex couples who spoke movingly about their relationships and the legal and practical challenges they faced. I also reported on the research that other scholars and I have done that shows that granting legal recognition has many positive effects on same-sex couples, such as greater feelings of social inclusion, health, and relationship commitment. No harm to the institution of marriage has been documented, and heterosexual couples continue to marry and have babies (an explicit concern of some attendees of the workshop).
The Ministry will make a proposal about recognizing same-sex couples to the National Assembly later this year.