Veteran political activist Shih Ming-te (施明德) yesterday spoke out in favor of same-sex marriage and gay rights in a Facebook post, saying that if he were elected president next year, his government would allow same-sex marriage and give gay couples the same rights as heterosexual couples.
According to the constitution, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights passed by the legislature in 2009 are considered domestic statutes, Shih said.
That means the government could promulgate same-sex marriage without the need for the Legislative Yuan to pass any new bills, Shih said.
The 74-year-old Shih announced on Thursday that he would run in January’s presidential election as an independent.
One of the nation’s longest-serving political prisoners, Shih was a founding member of the Democratic Progressive Party and served as its chairman for two years before resigning from the party in 2000.
He was one of the leaders of an anti-corruption campaign against then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) in 2006.
Shih’s wife, Chen Chia-chun (陳嘉君), who is the executive director of the Shih Ming-te Culture Foundation, moderated discussions between lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LBGT) rights activists and legislators last year.
The Legislative Yuan reviewed a same-sex marriage bill in December last year, the first time a bill to legalize same-sex marriage had ever been reviewed at the parliamentary level in East Asia, but the bill stalled because of opposition from the Ministry of Justice and religious groups and remains shelved in committee.
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President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if the next president of that country decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said today. “We would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said during a legislative hearing. At the same time, Taiwan is paying close attention to the Central American region as a whole, in the wake of a visit there earlier this year by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Lin said. Rubio visited Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala, during which he
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