Any law that follows from the passage of referendums initiated by groups opposed to same-sex marriage cannot contradict the Council of Grand Justices’ Interpretation No. 748, as it came from the highest ranks of the legal hierarchy, the Judicial Yuan said yesterday.
Interpretations from the grand justices have equal legal weight as the Constitution, Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lu Tai-lang (呂太郎) told a meeting of the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee in Taipei.
Although two referendums were passed that oppose amending the Civil Code to allow for same-sex marriage, the Legislative Yuan cannot pass laws that oppose the interpretation, Lu said.
Photo: Wu Cheng-feng, Taipei Times
The decision delivered on May 24 last year states that provisions in the Civil Code that define marriage as between a man and a woman contravene the Constitution, and required that new regulations be introduced within two years to protect marriage equality.
All three referendums initiated by the Coalition for the Happiness of Our Next Generation were passed on Saturday.
They proposed excluding education about gay people from elementary and junior-high schools, restricting the Civil Code’s definition of marriage to a union between a man and woman, and drafting a separate law to protect same-sex marriage.
Two referendums supporting the inclusion of same-sex marriage in the Civil Code and the teaching of gender-equality education in elementary and junior-high schools were rejected.
Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka on Sunday said that the government would draft a separate law in three months to extend equal marriage rights to same-sex couples.
Separately yesterday, Judicial Yuan President Hsu Tzong-li (許宗力) on the sidelines of the opening of a film festival in Taipei offered words of encouragement to the nation’s LGBT community.
After the referendum results were announced, the Judicial Yuan heard from some LGBT people who had contemplated suicide because of the results, Hsu said.
“I want to use this opportunity to call on people who supported the failed pro-LGBT referendums to not lose their spirit, to be emotionally strong and to not feel disappointed,” Hsu said.
The rights of the LGBT community have already been protected by the interpretation, which would not be affected by the referendums, he added.
However, the referendum results would have a legally binding effect on the administrative and legislative branches of the government, which might have to protect marriage equality via a separate law, Hsu said.
A separate law would not necessarily afford unequal treatment to the LGBT community, as it would depend on its content, he added.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS