The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said that it would set up an ad hoc working group with the goal of reaching a consensus on the same-sex marriage issue before Friday, when the legislature is scheduled to vote on a series of same-sex marriage bills.
The “748 ad hoc working group” would be chaired by DPP caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), a DPP legislator, who declined to be named, said after a caucus meeting.
The group was named based on Constitutional Interpretation No. 748. On May 24, 2017, the Council of Grand Justices ruled that the prohibition of same-sex marriage in the Civil Code was unconstitutional and that within two years, the relevant authorities must amend or enact laws in accordance with the interpretation.
Photo: CNA
While all members of the DPP legislative caucus are welcome to join the group, it should include representatives from northern, central and southern Taiwan, and lawmakers with diverse views on same-sex marriage, Ker said.
Three competing draft bills on same-sex marriage, put forward by the Cabinet, DPP Legislator Lin Tai-hua (林岱樺), and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), would be reviewed at the legislature on Tuesday.
The legislature would then decide which one to put to a plenary vote on Friday.
The working group would hold its first meeting no later than Monday, as the Friday vote is drawing near, DPP legislative caucus secretary-general Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said yesterday.
Taiwanese in November last year voted in a referendum against legalizing same-sex marriage by amending the Civil Code.
In another referendum, 6.4 million people supported the introduction of a special law to allow same-sex unions, a proposal that same-sex marriage advocates said was discriminatory, while 4.07 million opposed the idea.
On March 5, a Cabinet draft bill titled the “enforcement act of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748” passed its second reading in the legislature. It is scheduled for its third and final reading on Friday.
The bill would allow same-sex couples to register their marriage at any household registration office.
However, in a conciliatory gesture to those who oppose treating same-sex unions as marriages, the legislature on March 15 passed the second reading of a draft bill introduced by Lai, which would limit use of the words “marriage” and “spouse” to heterosexual couples.
A third bill, introduced by Lin and proposing some limitations on same-sex marriages, passed a second reading on Friday last week.
If no legislation on same-sex marriage is passed by May 24, same-sex couples would be allowed to register their marriages under the existing Civil Code, according to the Council of Grand Justices’ ruling.
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