Legislative Yuan caucus representatives yesterday declined to provide guarantees of a final, general-assembly vote on rules allowing same-sex “marriage,” advocacy groups said yesterday, as related bills proposed by lawmakers across party lines head to the Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee for an initial review.
Representatives of the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association, Taiwan LGBT Family Rights Advocacy Association, Pridewatch Taiwan and the Awakening Foundation met separately with representatives of each of the legislature’s four caucuses.
While the New Power Party and the People First Party both pledged support, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus representatives were sympathetic, but noncommittal, Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association research associate Lu Hsin-chieh (呂欣潔) said, adding that meetings with homosexual advocates were delegated to DPP Legislator Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀) and KMT Legislator Jason Hsu (許毓仁), who have both sponsored legalization bills.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
“Lin said the reality was that there are some legislators who are worried about pressure from their districts,” Lu said, adding that Hsu had said the KMT caucus had decided to designate legalization as an “open” issue, allowing lawmakers to vote their conscience.
Noticeably absent was any commitment from either party’s leadership to push for or allow a floor vote amid claims that a majority of legislators have expressed support for some form of legalization.
According to a Pridewatch count, 57 of the nation’s 113 legislators have issued public statements supporting legalization, while 41 have signed one of three bills.
Thirteen legislators are opposed, including DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) and KMT caucus whip Sufin Siluko (廖國棟), it said.
Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association secretary-general Peng Chih-liu (彭治鏐) said receiving a final general assembly floor vote was likely the greatest obstacle facing legislation.
“The Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee should not be a problem,” he said, adding that DPP Legislator Yu Mei-nu (尤美女) , who co-sponsered one of the proposed amendements, serves as committee coconvener, practically guaranteeing hearings and a vote.
Nine out the committee’s 12 members have expressed support for legalization, Pridewatch said.
The groups expressed support for Yu’s proposal, saying that they had been consulted extensively on draft language, which would expand the Civil Code’s definition of marriage to guarantee equal rights for same-sex couples.
“We feel this will achieve full equality, while minimizing the shock to the full body of law,” Awakening Foundation secretary-general Lin Shih-fang (林實芳) said, contrasting Yu’s bill with the NPP’s proposal to delete every reference to “a man and a woman” in the law in favor of “both sides.”
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do