A proposed amendment to the Civil Code that would legalize same-sex marriage is to go under review at the legislature tomorrow.
Following months of anticipation and heated discussions among groups for and against gay marriage, the amendment is set to go under scrutiny by the Judiciary Committee tomorrow morning.
The changes will be voted on at the plenary session next year, if it successfully makes it pass the committee stage.
The amendment, dubbed the marriage equality amendment, would replace terms that imply heterosexual married couples with neutral terms in the Civil Code, effectively allowing for same-sex marriage.
If passed, the phrase “between a man and a woman” used in articles concerning marriage would be changed to “between both parties,” while clauses that refer to “husband and wife” concerning legal regulations on property ownership will be revised to say “couple.”
The amendment would also allow for same-sex couples to adopt children.
Led by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) and Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), the amendment has garnered support from more than 20 DPP lawmakers, as well as two legislators from the Taiwan Solidarity Union and one each from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the People First Party.
Yu, who is the committee’s convener for the current legislative session, has expressed support for same-sex marriage.
In response to KMT Legislator Liao Cheng-ching’s (廖正井) remarks earlier this year when he said “local folks back home” would never accept something that went “against humanity” such as gay marriage, marriage equality advocates retaliated by launching a petition that condemned Liao’s remarks as discriminatory, collecting more than 2,000 signatures within one day in his constituency.
Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR) director Victoria Hsu (許秀雯) accused the Ministry of Justice of failing to protect the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities, saying that Minister of Justice Luo Ying-shay (羅瑩雪) should step down for “gross negligence” of her duties.
“Regardless of political affiliation, the protection of human rights is a national policy. Even if the Ministry of Justice has failed to come up with an amendment themselves, they should still stand up for gay rights on Monday [tomorrow] at the legislature,” TAPCPR secretary-general Chien Chih-chieh (簡至潔) said.
Legislation to legalize same-sex marriage has failed on numerous occasions. A proposed amendment failed to make it past the committee stage last year amid opposition from Christian groups.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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