Several groups opposed to marriage equality yesterday filed a second appeal with the Taiwan High Administrative Court in a bid to overturn a constitutional interpretation that instructs the government to legalize same-sex marriage.
The groups, led by Alliance of Taiwan Religious Groups for the Protection of the Family secretary-general Chang Shou-yi (張守一), submitted a new petition against same-sex marriage after the court dismissed their first petition on Jan. 10.
“There were numerous illegalities and a clear violation of the law in the process that resulted in the issuance of last year’s Constitutional Interpretation No. 748,” Chang said. “Also, the interpretation and the reasons given by the Council of Grand Justices in its ruling contravene articles of the Constitution.”
Photo: CNA
“Therefore, we ask the High Administrative Court judges to have the conscience and moral integrity to rule on our appeal through their own independent stance, and not to cave in to political influence and forces of intimidation, and to reach a decision conforming to the freedoms and values of our democratic society,” he said.
The council should have turned down an application for a constitutional interpretation on same-sex marriage submitted by gay rights advocate Chi Chia-wei (祁家威) in August 2015, due to violations of legal procedure and the unconstitutional aspect of the process, Chang said.
Chang has been spearheading a campaign to rally groups that support traditional social and family values, and those representing various faiths.
Representatives from the Citizens Coalition to Safeguard Taiwan, the Alliance for the Happiness of Future Generations, itw999 Group and the Taiwan Civil Rights Solidarity Organization yesterday accompanied Chang as he submitted the application.
The groups have been fighting demands by lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender advocates for legal recognition of marriage between same-sex partners, which would give them the right to form a family, recognize them as heads of households and give them parental guardianship of children, along with inheritance and shared property ownership rights.
Members of the groups yesterday held up placards that read “The gay rights movement is devouring Taiwan,” “Once these discriminatory laws are approved, people will have no freedom of speech and no religious freedom” and “We want sexual liberation education out of our schools.”
Chang pointed at what he said were flaws and wrong interpretations by Wu Chen-huan (吳陳鐶), the judge who rejected the previous petition.
Wu said in his ruling that “the Council of Grand Justices exercised its judiciary authority to take up the constitutional interpretation [on Chi’s case]... The procedure was not under the authority of an administrative body, and its related litigation does not belong under the authority of the Taiwan High Administrative Court, which would have no right to rule on the case.”
China appears to have built mockups of a port in northeastern Taiwan and a military vessel docked there, with the aim of using them as targets to test its ballistic missiles, a retired naval officer said yesterday. Lu Li-shih (呂禮詩), a former lieutenant commander in Taiwan’s navy, wrote on Facebook that satellite images appeared to show simulated targets in a desert in China’s Xinjiang region that resemble the Suao naval base in Yilan County and a Kidd-class destroyer that usually docks there. Lu said he compared the mockup port to US naval bases in Yokosuka and Sasebo, Japan, and in Subic Bay
Police are investigating the death of a Formosan black bear discovered on Tuesday buried near an industrial road in Nantou County, with initial evidence indicating that it was shot accidentally by a hunter. The bear had been caught in wildlife traps at least five times before, three times since 2020. Codenamed No. 711, the bear received extensive media coverage last year after it was discovered trapped twice in less than two months in the Taichung mountains. After its most recent ensnarement last month, the bear was released in the Dandashan (丹大山) area in Nantou County’s Sinyi Township (信義). However, officials became concerned after the
The majority of parents surveyed in northern Taiwan favor the suspension of all on-site classes at schools from the junior-high level and below amid a surge in domestic COVID-19 infections, parent groups said yesterday. About 84.4 percent of respondents in a survey of 2,912 parents in northern Taiwan, where the outbreak is the most serious, said they supported suspending classes, the Action Alliance on Basic Education, the Taiwan Parents Protect Women and Children Association, and the Taiwan Love Children Association said. The groups distributed questionnaires to parents in New Taipei City, Taipei, Keelung, Taoyuan and Hsinchu city and county from Saturday morning
DETERRENCE: US National Security Council Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell said cross-strait affairs are on the agenda at the US-ASEAN Special Leaders’ Summit The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday thanked the Czech Senate for passing a resolution supporting Taiwan’s inclusion in the WHO and other international organizations for the second consecutive year. The resolution was passed on Wednesday with 51 votes in favor, one opposed and 11 abstentions. In addition to the WHO, it also called for Taiwan’s participation in the “meetings, mechanisms and activities” of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the International Civil Aviation Organization and Interpol. In its opening, the resolution states that the Czech Republic “considers Taiwan as one of its key partners in the Indo-Pacific region,” while noting its