The Tainan District Court has ordered a man and his alleged lover to compensate his former wife, who sued him for adultery and for concealing his sexual identity before marriage.
The woman, identified only as “Hsiao-chen” (小珍), had asked for NT$300,000 in compensation.
The court on Monday awarded her NT$100,000.
The court’s decision received wide media attention, because it was the first involving gay people since Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage on May 17.
Hsiao-chen said she sued her husband, who goes by the nickname A-jen (阿仁), because he was having an “extramarital affair” with another married man, A-chih (阿智), who has two children.
Hsiao-chen accused her husband of breaching her spousal rights by committing adultery with a man, which she said caused her a lot of mental anguish and psychological pain.
She said she found that A-jen and A-chih had visited a motel several times after meeting through an online chat site.
When she confronted her husband, he said he was in love with A-chih and that they had “done things which I [he] should not be doing” at the motel, Hsiao-chen said.
“I do not discriminate against people with a different sexual orientation, but my husband had lied to me about being gay before we got married in 2017. His deception has greatly damaged other people in the family,” she said during the trial.
When asked about the situation, A-jen said: “I want both of them, one is my boyfriend, the other is my wife. Why can I not have both?”
The court concurred that the two men were engaged in a love relationship, although they denied having sex.
Their relationship damaged what had been a happy marriage for Hsiao-chen, and A-jen had broken his marriage vows.
The judges agreed that Hsiao-chen’s spousal rights were breached and that the two men had exceeded the bounds of a regular relationship between two male friends.
However, they could not convict the two men on adultery charges, as both have denied having sex.
Hsiao-chen had filed for divorce, which was granted last year.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS