Gender rights activists yesterday called on adoption agencies and the government to relax regulations on adoption and artificial insemination so that unmarried women and homosexual couples could also have children.
“The definition of ‘family’ is quickly changing in society. However, while the government recognizes that there’s a growing number of single-parent families, it’s still quite narrow-minded about what a family is,” Huang Chang-ling (黃長玲), a representative of the Awakening Foundation, told a news conference yesterday.
“Somehow, the government and adoption agencies think that a woman can still be a good mother after getting divorced, but an unmarried woman cannot become a good mother,” Huang said.
She said that some women were just not made for marriage, but they would still be good mothers.
Right now, most adoption agencies in the country require adoptive parents to be a husband and wife.
Although the Civil Code (民法) and the Children and Juveniles Welfare Act (兒童及青少年福利法) only stipulate that a court rule on an adoption case based on an evaluation of an adoptive parent’s personal character, economic status, family condition and childcare experience in the past, many of the rulings are still made based on marriage status or sexual orientation.
A lesbian’s application to adopt her sister’s child was rejected by a court in Taoyuan County two years ago because of her sexual orientation, Les Hand Association vice-chairwoman, who is nicknamed Hsiao Yi (小逸), said during the press conference.
“The two sisters had already agreed on the adoption, but it was blocked during the legal process because the judge worried that the child may have a ‘confused sexual orientation’ if he or she were brought up by a lesbian,” Hsiao Yi said.
Because adoption is ruled out, many homosexual couples and unmarried women turn to technology for a solution.
“Unfortunately, the Artificial Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) says that only a married man and woman are qualified to use the option [of artificial insemination],” said Chen Chao-ju (陳昭如), another Awakening Foundation member.
A representative from the Taiwan Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Family Rights Advocacy Association nicknamed Hsiang (祥) said the law has created social injustice along with other problems.
“A lot of unmarried celebrities go to other countries for artificial insemination, but most of us don’t have the money to do that — it’s not fair,” she said. “So in order to have a child, many lesbians enter into fake unions, and a lot of problems occur for lesbians in fake marriages.”
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “[we] appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody