The Kaohsiung City Government said it will study the idea of holding a mass wedding that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people would be allowed to attend.
Kaohsiung Civil Affairs Bureau Director-General Tseng Tzu-wen (曾姿雯) said that while it might be too much of a rush to invite members of the LGBT community to attend a mass wedding at the end of next month, she is willing to work with the Social Affairs Bureau to assess a future mass wedding that gays would be allowed to attend.
She was addressing concerns by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Kaohsiung City Councilor Kao Min-lin (高閔琳), who asked the city government to issue certification to those who want to name same-sex partners in the city’s household registration system.
Kao said that the Kaohsiung City Government’s household registration system is only a “formality” and does not provide any conveniences.
She said that a gay person could not sign a letter of consent for emergency surgery on their partner.
Kao also asked the city government to allow gay people to take part in mass weddings, adding that the municipal governments in Taipei and Taoyuan have allowed them to participate in such events.
The Kaohsiung City Government opened its “Sunshine registration” for gays on Wednesday last week and the Bureau of Civil Affairs estimated that 27 same-sex couples had registered their partners.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
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