In recent years, people have been wondering whether Vietnam would be the first Asian country to legalize gay marriage.
So it came as a surprise that the first national survey about LGBT rights showed most Vietnamese oppose same-sex marriage.
The study polled over 5,000 Vietnamese and found that 53 percent said gay people should not get married.
But LGBT advocates say the poll showed some positive results too, because more awareness about the gay community leads to more support.
This is Dang Nguyen Anh, director of the Institute of Sociology, which conducted the survey.
“Knowledge about gay people, living together like a husband and wife, has increased, especially since 2005. What does this mean? It means the spread of information about them has increased over the past 10 years.”
More than half of the respondents supported the right of gay couples to have children and share property.
And a big majority felt that if gay marriage was legal, it would not affect them.
Here’s Dang Nguyen Anh again.
“We asked people, how does homosexuality affect your family? Not other families in general, but your family, you personally. And the results are really interesting. Almost everyone said, it doesn’t affect me at all. Things are normal. I don’t know about other people, but for me, there’s no effect. The rate is very high, about 70 to 80 percent said it would have no effect on them.”
In May, the Vietnam National Assembly will revise the Marriage and Family Law that bans same-sex relationships.
If the ban is repealed, Vietnam will become the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage.
But it’s likely to postpone the question of gay marriage for another time.
Cao Kim Chau’s child is gay. She says she will be proud no matter what the government does.
“I want Vietnamese lawmakers to understand, whether they pass this law or not next month, this has been a big victory for the community. They’ve had a positive impact on society, helping to change people’s perceptions.”
But not everyone has changed their mind.
Nguyen Duc Manh, director of the Institute for Population, Family, and Children Studies, said he’s worried that having gay parents could be harmful to children.
“Will children raised in a family with gay parents develop normally like other children? When there’s a couple where both are female or both are male, do children call them both father or mother? In our society in Vietnam, will they be at a disadvantage?”
The survey also concluded that younger Vietnamese are more likely to support gay rights.
So too are people with higher incomes and education, who are on the increase in Vietnam.
Here is Tran Khac Tung, director of ICS, an LGBT group that helped organize the poll.
“We'd like to send a message to the members of parliament. That Vietnam, our country, has a big opportunity to support our desire, our determination, our will to protect human rights as well as minority rights. While we, the gay community, have had the courage to be ourselves and love whom we love, society has had the courage to let go of its prejudices and old ideas.”
