Long-term partners Chou Shu-chi (周書綺) and Wang Shu-yi (王淑儀) yesterday filed a lawsuit with Taipei’s Shilin (士林) District Court asking it to have both of them recognized as the legal guardians of their children, since under Taiwanese law, the women cannot get married so only Chou is afforded parental status through being the kids’ biological mother.
The 33-year-old Chou and the 35-year-old Wang have been a couple since they met in college 15 years ago and own a business together.
Four years ago, the couple decided to have a child and Chou traveled to Canada to undergo assisted reproductive surgery. Although after undergoing a physical exam, Chou was told by her doctors that she only had a 40 percent chance of becoming pregnant, the surgery was a success and she gave birth to twins — a girl and a boy.
Photo: Ching Jen-hao, Taipei Times
“We felt like we had won the lottery,” Chou said.
However, their joy was cut short when they discovered that the law only allows Chou to be registered as the twins’ mother. Wang cannot do so because she is not the biological mother and her and Chou cannot legally wed.
“We’ve applied to the household registration office as the twins’ parents, but were turned down because we are not legally married,” Wang said.
“We then applied to the [Taipei] City Government, hoping to at least be registered as the twins’ adoptive parents, but the city government also rejected our application, saying that we cannot ‘adopt’ children because we are not married,” she added.
“We are the twins’ parents, both of us. The four of us live together as a family and Chou and I take care of the kids together, but legally, I am a stranger in the house; how is that fair?” Wang asked.
Accompanied by lawyers and members of the Taiwan LGBT Family Rights Advocacy group, Chou and Wang yesterday filed the suit in the hopes that the court will allow Wang to be registered as a stepparent.
The lawsuit asks the court to rule to extend the Civil Code regulations governing the status of stepparents to grant Wang stepmother status, which would then pave the way to her being registered as the twins’ adoptive mother.
“We’ve been together for 15 years and we’ve raised our children for more than three years. We are in a stable relationship and form a very stable, happy family,” Wang said. “All we are seeking is legal recognition of that, so we can be a family not only in real life, but also in the eyes of the law.”
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique