Two pro-marriage equality referendums are likely to be held alongside the local elections next month, after the Central Election Commission yesterday announced that they have passed the second-phase legal threshold.
The commission on Tuesday is to decide whether the proposals will be on the ballot for the nine-in-one elections on Nov. 24.
The proposals, initiated by Social Democratic Party member Miao Po-ya (苗博雅) and advocate Wang Ting-yu (王鼎棫) respectively, have gathered enough signatures to clear the 281,745 threshold for the second phase of the process, the commission said.
Photo: Li Hsin-fang, Taipei Times
The proposals directly oppose three referendums organized by conservative groups and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers that have already cleared the commission’s review process.
Miao’s referendum proposal to legalize same-sex marriage under the marriage chapter of the Civil Code garnered 432,329 valid and 42,448 invalid signatures, 2,498 of which were forgeries and 44 belonged to dead people, it said.
Wang’s proposal supporting lessons on emotional and sex education and homosexuality through the Gender Equity Education Act (性別平等教育法) garnered 438,066 valid and 46,183 invalid signatures, including 2,580 suspected forgeries and 42 belonging to the deceased, the commission said.
The commission is likely to clear the proposals for the ballot box while pressing forgery charges against their organizers, as it has done for three KMT-initiated referendums.
Later yesterday, the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR) and other groups held a news conference ouside the commission in Taipei to express their “resolute opposition” to the anti-LGBT referendums initiated by the Happiness of the Next Generation Alliance and other groups.
The Happiness of the Next Generation Alliance is associated with the referendums to legally define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, recognize same-sex relationships by means other than marriage and to forbid mentioning homosexuality in gender-equality classes at elementary and junior-high schools.
The commission never should have allowed the three proposals, which are potentially unconstitutional, to become referendums, TAPCPR executive officer and LGBT rights attorney Victoria Hsu (許秀雯) said.
The TAPCPR said it has applied with the commission to establish offices to campaign against the anti-LGBT referendums, as referendum opponents are entitled to participate in the commission’s televised public forums and debates under Article 20 of the Referendum Act (公民投票法).
“The TAPCPR is prepared to expose anti-LGBT organizations that espouse family values to mask their true agenda of discrimination and hate,” the organization said. “While anti-LGBT groups have better funding to buy ads, we will use public debate as our platform to spread factual information.”
A TAIWAN FIRST: The duo are the first badminton players from Taiwan to climb an Olympic podium, and Tai Tzu-ying has a shot at doing the same today Taiwanese badminton duo Lee Yang (李洋) and Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) yesterday won the nation’s first Olympic gold medal in the sport when they prevailed over a third-seeded Chinese pair in the final of the men’s doubles at the Tokyo Olympics. Lee and Wang, both first-time Olympians, defeated Liu Yuchen (劉雨辰) and Li Junhui (李俊慧) 21-18, 21-12 in a 34-minute final at the Musashino Forest Sports Plaza. As of yesterday, Taiwan had bagged seven medals in Tokyo — two golds, two silvers and three bronzes — topping its previous best of five medals in 2000 and 2004. Taiwan moved to No. 17 in the
NO ‘ONE CHINA’ LIE: The appropriations act passed the US House of Representatives with a vote of 217-212, but still needs Senate approval and the president’s signature The US House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a foreign assistance spending bill with an amendment forbidding that funds be used to create, procure or display maps depicting Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China. The amendment was introduced by five Republican representatives — Tom Tiffany, Steve Chabot, Scott Perry, Kat Cammack and Mike Gallagher — and passed unanimously in a bundle with a dozen other amendments. “This is a common sense measure,” Tiffany said, speaking on the House floor on Wednesday. “As we all know, Taiwan has never been part of communist China. The Taiwanese people elect their
‘TEAM TAIWAN’: Taiwanese athletes have performed admirably and raised the nation’s profile, but many abroad still think they are Chinese, an advocate said Advocacy groups have called for the national team to compete under the name “Taiwan” at the Tokyo Olympics, while former Olympian Chi Cheng (紀政) has launched another referendum petition on the issue. Taiwanese athletes have performed outstandingly at the Olympics and have raised the nation’s profile on the world stage, Northern Taiwan Society chairman Lee Chuan-hsin (李川信) said on Friday. “Many foreign news agencies, including Japan’s NHK, have called our delegation ‘Taiwan’ instead of ‘Chinese Taipei.’ Therefore our own people and politicians should also speak of ‘Team Taiwan’ and Taiwanese athletes,” he said. “However, in Taiwan, most of the time the Taiwanese team
SOAKED: Although rain in central and southern Taiwan is to ease today, chances of heavy or extremely heavy rain would be high in the morning, a CWB forecaster said Extreme torrential rain brought by a southwesterly jet stream yesterday wreaked havoc in central and southern Taiwan, causing flash floods and triggering mudflows and landslides in mountainous areas. By 5pm yesterday, the Central Weather Bureau’s observation station in Yuyoushan (御油山) in Kaohsiung’s Liouguei District (六龜) had registered accumulated rainfall of 726.5mm since 12am on Saturday, the highest among the bureau’s observation stations. It was followed by the observation station in Kaohsiung’s Maolin District (茂林), which recorded accumulated rainfall of 671.5mm over the period. Six of the 10 observation stations that recorded the highest accumulated rainfall yesterday were in Liouguei, bureau
RSS