A new measure by the Kaohsiung City Government to allow unofficial registration of same-sex couples has drawn mixed responses from members of the local lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community.
The new regulations, dubbed “sunshine registration,” were implemented yesterday, after the city government announced them last week.
LGBT advocacy groups said that although the measure was well-intended, the new registration scheme was not legally binding.
Photo: CNA
Accompanying a lesbian couple, A-fei (阿飛) and her partner, to a household registration office yesterday, the groups posed several questions to local authorities on the legal standing of the registration.
The couple refused to register after finding out that the registration would not be written on their household certificates and that registration papers would lack official government seals.
LGBT groups said that the new policy failed to effect meaningful change.
The groups accused the Kaohsiung City Government of failing to communicate with LGBT representatives before implementing the new measures.
They also criticized Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) for not allowing same-sex couples to participate in mass wedding events, as well as a lack of education on gender issues among city government employees.
Not all same-sex couples viewed the new regulations negatively, with the Chinese-language Apple Daily reporting that eight same-sex couples in Kaohsiung registered yesterday.
City officials have described the measure as a non-binding statement that enjoys no legal status of any sort in civil law and which serves as more of a “symbolic gesture” in the absence of a civil law amendment.
However, the measure would allow city agencies — such as police, judicial officials or medical facilities — to gain access to information on registered same-sex partnerships, which could help inform the legal decisions of government agencies.
Responding to criticism from LGBT groups, Kaohsiung Bureau of Civil Affairs Director Tseng Tzu-wen (曾姿雯) said that despite the lack of legal standing, the measure was intended to set an example for other municipal governments.
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