Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chao Tien-lin (趙天麟) said it would be a progressive step for Taiwan to implement a separate piece of legislation governing same-sex marriage, as many of the nations that have such rules started with civil unions, which would be unprecedented in Asia.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Saturday met separately with groups supporting same-sex marriage and others opposed to it.
Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) quoted her as saying: “There does not necessarily have to be inherent confrontation between family values and marriage equality.”
Huang said Tsai asked Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to help construct a “conversation mechanism at the Presidential Office level” that could continue inviting both camps to communicate further.
Chao yesterday praised Tsai’s move, saying setting up the platform would be a good start.
“My take is that even if [what we in the end have is] a separate law, it would be considered progressive, as no other Asian nation has similar legislation,” he said, adding that of the 23 nations that have legalized same-sex marriage, “21, such as France and Germany, started out with civil unions.”
“In other words, the definition of marriage was not initially challenged and changed; what was first put forward was measures to support and guarantee rights to those who wanted to form families and were willing to vow fidelity to their partner, be they heterosexual or homosexual,” Chao said.
If society in general still “cannot understand or is not yet accustomed to” same-sex marriage, what the government should do is probably “not challenge the definition of marriage in the Civil Code, but establish separate legislation covering civil unions with legal rights extended to homosexual couples who are willing to form a family,” he said.
Chao asked the Ministry of Justice to make the communication platform a “legislative paradigm,” rather than seeing people deeply divided and shouting denunciations at each other on the streets.
Minister of Justice Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said that Chao’s suggestions “could serve as a reference for the ministry.”
Tsai made two directives on Saturday, Chiu said.
“One was that the discussion of family values and personal ideas of happiness is to be facilitated by the vice president; the other is that the ministry is to have legal experts from both camps discuss the issue via the platform set up by the ministry,” Chiu said.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS