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.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
NUMBERs IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
RSS