An administrative appeal is to be filed against the Taipei City Government after a transnational same-sex couple’s attempt to register their marriage was rejected, the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights said yesterday.
Ting Tse-yen, 28, and his Macanese partner, Leong Chin Fei, 31, yesterday applied to register their marriage at the Zhongzheng District Household Registration Office, but their request was rejected due to Leong’s nationality, the alliance said.
The legal issue the couple are battling is the same faced by more than 200 other same-sex couples, Leong said.
Photo: CNA
“We are taking legal action [against the city government] not just for ourselves, but also for the more than 200 couples like us,” he said.
The couple consider themselves the lucky ones because Leong has been able to secure residency without a marriage certificate, he said, adding that some couples cannot even be together due to visa issues.
Although same-sex marriage was legalized on May 24, hundreds of same-sex couples like Ting and Leong are still unable to marry because one of them comes from a nation where same-sex marriage is not legal, alliance secretary-general Chien Chih-chieh (簡至潔) said.
Article 46 of the Act Governing the Choice of Law in Civil Matters Involving Foreign Elements (涉外民事法律適用法) stipulates that whether a marriage can be established depends on the national law of each involved party, attorney Daniel Chen (陳明彥) said.
Taiwanese can only marry a foreign same-sex partner if the latter comes from one of the 27 nations where same-sex marriage has been legalized, Chen said.
This undermines their rights to equality as defined in the Council of Grand Justices’ Interpretation No. 748 and guaranteed by the Constitution, he added.
Ting and Leong are the first of several couples who are working with the alliance to push for the legalization of all transnational same-sex marriages, attorney Victoria Hsu (許秀雯) said.
Three more transnational same-sex couples with slightly different legal issues also plan to file administrative appeals in collaboration with the alliance in the next two months, she said.
To legalize all transnational same-sex marriage, the government needs to announce that foreign laws which do not acknowledge same-sex marriage are not in line with the Constitution and therefore do not apply, she added.
“It does not necessarily require a law to be amended,” Hsu said.
Article 8 of the Act Governing the Choice of Law in Civil Matters Involving Foreign Elements stipulates that courts and government agencies can disregard certain foreign laws if they undermine public order or go against the good morals (boni mores) of society, she said.
Since the government legalized same-sex marriage in May, about 1,000 same-sex couples registered their marriages, Chien said.
“We fought hard to overcome the gender barrier and this time we will overcome the nationality barrier,” she said. “Our country cannot treat people differently and deprive them of the freedom to marry based on their nationality, that is not right.”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
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