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.”
LIMITS: While China increases military pressure on Taiwan and expands its use of cognitive warfare, it is unwilling to target tech supply chains, the report said US and Taiwan military officials have warned that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could implement a blockade within “a matter of hours” and need only “minimal conversion time” prior to an attack on Taiwan, a report released on Tuesday by the US Senate’s China Economic and Security Review Commission said. “While there is no indication that China is planning an imminent attack, the United States and its allies and partners can no longer assume that a Taiwan contingency is a distant possibility for which they would have ample time to prepare,” it said. The commission made the comments in its annual
DETERMINATION: Beijing’s actions toward Tokyo have drawn international attention, but would likely bolster regional coordination and defense networks, the report said Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s administration is likely to prioritize security reforms and deterrence in the face of recent “hybrid” threats from China, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said. The bureau made the assessment in a written report to the Legislative Yuan ahead of an oral report and questions-and-answers session at the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The key points of Japan’s security reforms would be to reinforce security cooperation with the US, including enhancing defense deployment in the first island chain, pushing forward the integrated command and operations of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and US Forces Japan, as
IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST: Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu said the strengthening of military facilities would help to maintain security in the Taiwan Strait Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi, visiting a military base close to Taiwan, said plans to deploy missiles to the post would move forward as tensions smolder between Tokyo and Beijing. “The deployment can help lower the chance of an armed attack on our country,” Koizumi told reporters on Sunday as he wrapped up his first trip to the base on the southern Japanese island of Yonaguni. “The view that it will heighten regional tensions is not accurate.” Former Japanese minister of defense Gen Nakatani in January said that Tokyo wanted to base Type 03 Chu-SAM missiles on Yonaguni, but little progress
IN THE MIDDLE: Some of the lawmakers defended the trip as an opportunity for investment, cooperation and to see models that could help modernize Panama A planned trip by some Panamanian lawmakers to Taiwan has unleashed the latest diplomatic spat with China as the Central American country tries to navigate the turbulent waters between the Asian superpower and the US. The Panamanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the US ambassador to the country on Wednesday criticized China’s diplomats in Panama for asking the lawmakers to cancel their trip to Taiwan, with the ministry accusing the Chinese embassy of “meddling” in its internal affairs. That followed comments from Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino a week earlier saying that the planned Taiwan trip did not have the approval of
RSS