The Ministry of the Interior yesterday revised its same-sex marriage certificate after the initial version was criticized as discriminatory.
The Enforcement Act of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748 (司法院釋字第748號解釋施行法) is to go into effect today and with it same-sex couples will be able to legally register their marriages.
However, the first version of the marriage certificate released by the Ministry of the Interior on Wednesday was titled “same-sex marriage certificate.”
Photo: Chen Ching-min, Taipei Times
Critics called the inclusion of term “same-sex” in the document discriminatory.
National Sun Yat-sen University sociology department chairman Wang Hong-zen (王宏仁) wrote on Facebook that a household registration office had mailed him a ministry version of the marriage certificate that emphasized the same-sex nature of the marriage.
Calling the language in the document “strange,” he questioned whether the marriage certificates of heterosexual couples would be labeled “heterosexual marriage certificate.”
When he called the ministry’s Department of Household Registration to protest, an official told him that the language in the document was ministry policy, he wrote.
The Executive Yuan yesterday morning reassured the public that the term “same-sex” would not appear on the marriage certificates of same-sex couples.
The “same-sex marriage certificate” was only a sample document previously used by the ministry, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said.
The ministry would be releasing an official version later yesterday without the term “same-sex,” she said.
The official version would not contain any language seen as discriminatory toward LGBT people, she added.
A marriage certificate made available for download on the ministry’s Web site yesterday afternoon on a page explaining regulations for same-sex marriage registration did not contain the term “same-sex marriage.”
Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) said that he hopes all of the couples who have been waiting “all their lives” to become married will be able to do so from today.
Su asked government agencies to be prepared for same-sex marriage registrations and to provide the public with any information required.
He also instructed civil servants not to use any discriminatory language toward same-sex couples who visit household registration offices to register their marriages.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
RSS