The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed amendments to allow same-sex married couples to jointly adopt children that neither spouse is related to.
The amendments to the Act for Implementation of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748 (司法院釋字第七四八號解釋施行法), which officially legalized same-sex marriage on May 19, 2019, seek to allow for the adoption of children who are not biologically related to the couple.
Since it was enacted, many LGBTQ advocates have sought to amend Article 20, which states that when one party to the union “adopts the genetic child of the other party,” the provisions concerning adoption in the Civil Code would apply.
Photo: CNA
In practice, the wording has excluded those in same-sex marriages from adopting children who are not biologically related to them.
Last year, lawmakers from all four parties in the legislature proposed amendments to the article, and after interparty negotiations, passed a final version of the revisions.
The updated version of Article 20 removes the “genetic child” language, stating that the Civil Code adoption provisions apply when one party to the union “adopts the child of the party, or where the couple jointly adopt a child.”
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights secretary-general Chien Chih-chieh (簡至潔) said that she was “overjoyed” at the law’s passage, which would allow same-sex couples to build “complete” families.
In the past, same-sex couples had to jump through a complex set of legal hoops to adopt a child, such as by divorcing, then having one party adopt a child, and then remarrying and raising the child together, Chien said.
Even then, the other party in the marriage could not formally adopt the child, since the child was not genetically related to their partner, she said.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare said that with the amendments’ passage, it would begin allowing same-sex couples to adopt “based on the current standard procedures.”
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS