The Legislative Yuan should take swift action on same-sex marriage legislation, parents of same-sex couples said yesterday at a protest outside the Legislative Yuan.
More than a dozen parents gathered outside a Legislative Yuan side gate with members of the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association and other groups, shouting slogans calling for “marriage equality” to protect families.
“Homosexuals are not from outer space — normal parents can have homosexual children,” said a woman surnamed Guo (郭) who serves as the convener of Loving Parents of LGBT Taiwan. “I’ve been happily marriage to my husband for 33 years — why can’t my child get married like we can?”
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
“Please do not slander our children, all they want is to get married, not sexual liberation or bestiality, and if you really care about sexual liberation, you should let them,” she said, adding her daughter has been with her girlfriend for more than six years.
“I would not dare to say my marriage is happier than my daughter’s relationship,” a woman surnamed Wu (吳) said. “Because they are both girls, they are able to understand each other physically and emotionally, which makes communication easy.”
If two people are not able to marry, they can only become the “closest of strangers,” because they do not receive legal protection over many matters, Wu said.
“The government should legalize same sex marriage as quickly as possible so homosexuals can have families and plan for children if they want them,” a woman surnamed Lin (林) said. “If they do not have families and children, who will they be able to rely on when they grow old?”
The protesters and parents later met with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus representatives, with Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association research associate Lu Hsin-chieh (呂欣潔) saying that they hoped to persuade KMT legislators to allow related bills to be quickly referred to the Legislative Yuan’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee.
Referral of most bills to the committee was blocked last week as a result of a procedural boycott by KMT lawmakers to protest amendments to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法).
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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