Taiwan yesterday became the first Asian nation to legalize same-sex marriage after lawmakers passed the Enforcement Act of Judicial Yuan Constitutional Interpretation No. 748 (司法院釋字第748號解釋施行法).
Under the act, same-sex couples would be able to become legally married from Friday next week to meet a two-year deadline stipulated in Constitutional Interpretation No. 748, which was handed down by the Council of Grand Justices on May 24, 2017.
The Legislative Yuan yesterday held an article-by-article vote after cross-caucus talks on Tuesday on three versions of the legislation were inconclusive.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
The vote went according to a motion tendered yesterday by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus, which has the legislative majority, to amend the Executive Yuan’s version of the bill proposed in February.
The two other bills — submitted by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) on behalf of the Happiness of the Next Generation Alliance and DPP Legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺) on behalf of HTC Corp (宏達電) chairwoman Cher Wang’s (王雪紅) Faith, Hope and Love Foundation — were not put to a vote, as the DPP’s version was the first to be voted on and secured a majority.
Article 1 of the Cabinet’s version reads: “This act was formulated to enable two persons of the same sex to form a permanent bond that is intimate and exclusive for the purpose of managing a life together, thereby ensuring that the right to marriage is equal and protected.”
However, the DPP caucus amended the article to say: “This act was formulated to carry out Constitutional Interpretation No. 748.”
It also amended Article 2 of the Cabinet’s version, which reads: “Same-sex marriage refers to two persons of the same sex forming a permanent bond that is intimate and exclusive for the purpose of managing a life together,” removing the definition of “same-sex marriage” and rewording it to say that two people of the same sex may form a permanent bond that is intimate and exclusive for the purpose of managing a life together.
The DPP caucus added the word “marriage” to Article 4, which stipulates that after signing a certificate, which must also bear the signatures of two witnesses, two people of the same sex may register “their marriage” at a household registration office.
The changes were proposed in the hope of settling a dispute over certain phrasing in the Cabinet’s version, such as “same-sex marriage,” Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said on Thursday following a meeting between Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and DPP lawmakers.
People must be at least 18 years old to get married or, in the case of minors, obtain the consent of their legal guardian, the act says.
People may not marry their direct or collateral relatives within four degrees of consanguinity, unless they are collateral relatives through marriage who are not within three degrees of kinship, it says.
If a member of a same-sex couple is the biological parent of their child, their spouse may adopt the child, in which case adoption rules stipulated in the Civil Code would apply, the act says.
In the case of a divorce, the rules stipulated in the Civil Code regarding the division of assets, compensation and determination of child custody would apply, it says.
Several DPP legislators who have taken a conservative stance on same-sex marriage were absent from the legislative session yesterday, including Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書), Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) and Hung Chun-yi (洪宗熠).
Meanwhile, KMT lawmakers who have openly supported same-sex marriage voted in favor of some of the key DPP amendments.
KMT legislators Lin Wei-chou (林為洲), Jason Hsu (許毓仁), Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and Hsu Shu-hua (許淑華) voted for the DPP’s version of Article 2.
The DPP’s version of Article 4 received the backing of Chiang, Jason Hsu, Hsu Shu-hua, Lee Yen-hsiu (李彥秀), Ko Chih-en (柯志恩), Arthur Chen (陳宜民) and Lin Yi-hua (林奕華).
Loud cheering broke out from a crowd, estimated at more than 40,000 people, awaiting the result of the voting outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei when the legislation passed its third reading at 3:28pm.
In Constitutional Interpretation No. 748, the Council of Grand Justices declared the lack of language in the Civil Code to guarantee the right of same-sex couples to wed unconstitutional and required that a law or amendment be introduced to legalize same-sex marriage within two years.
CHAOS: Iranians took to the streets playing celebratory music after reports of Khamenei’s death on Saturday, while mourners also gathered in Tehran yesterday Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in a major attack on Iran launched by Israel and the US, throwing the future of the Islamic republic into doubt and raising the risk of regional instability. Iranian state television and the state-run IRNA news agency announced the 86-year-old’s death early yesterday. US President Donald Trump said it gave Iranians their “greatest chance” to “take back” their country. The announcements came after a joint US and Israeli aerial bombardment that targeted Iranian military and governmental sites. Trump said the “heavy and pinpoint bombing” would continue through the week or as long
TRUST: The KMT said it respected the US’ timing and considerations, and hoped it would continue to honor its commitments to helping Taiwan bolster its defenses and deterrence US President Donald Trump is delaying a multibillion-dollar arms sale to Taiwan to ensure his visit to Beijing is successful, a New York Times report said. The weapons sales package has stalled in the US Department of State, the report said, citing US officials it did not identify. The White House has told agencies not to push forward ahead of Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), it said. The two last month held a phone call to discuss trade and geopolitical flashpoints ahead of the summit. Xi raised the Taiwan issue and urged the US to handle arms sales to
BIG SPENDERS: Foreign investors bought the most Taiwan equities since 2005, signaling confidence that an AI boom would continue to benefit chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) market capitalization swelled to US$2 trillion for the first time following a 4.25 percent rally in its American depositary receipts (ADR) overnight, putting the world’s biggest contract chipmaker sixth on the list of the world’s biggest companies by market capitalization, just behind Amazon.com Inc. The site CompaniesMarketcap.com ranked TSMC ahead of Saudi Aramco and Meta Platforms Inc. The Taiwanese company’s ADRs on Tuesday surged to US$385.75 on the New York Stock Exchange, as strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications led to chip supply constraints and boost revenue growth to record-breaking levels. Each TSMC ADR represents
State-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) yesterday said that it had confirmed on Saturday night with its liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil suppliers that shipments are proceeding as scheduled and that domestic supplies remain unaffected. The CPC yesterday announced the gasoline and diesel prices will rise by NT$0.2 and NT$0.4 per liter, respectively, starting Monday, citing Middle East tensions and blizzards in the eastern United States. CPC also iterated it has been reducing the proportion of crude oil imports from the Middle East and diversifying its supply sources in the past few years in response to geopolitical risks, expanding
RSS