An amendment to grant same-sex couples the right to jointly adopt children passed a preliminary review yesterday at the legislature’s Judiciary and Organic Laws and Statutes Committee, bringing the law one step closer to closing an oversight criticized by LGBTQ+ and children’s advocates since the passage of same-sex marriage in 2019.
The amendment to Article 20 of the Act for the Judicial Yuan’s Implementation of Constitutional Interpretation No. 748 (司法院釋字第七四八號解釋施行法) is to enter cross-party negotiations.
The amendment aims to grant same-sex couples the right to adopt jointly and for a partner to legally adopt their spouse’s adopted child, bringing their rights in line with those afforded to different-sex couples under the Civil Code.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times
The act as it stands only allows for a same-sex partner to adopt their spouse’s biological child.
Since the law was passed in May 2019, 7,757 couples have registered marriages.
“At that time, we were the first in Asia” to legalize marriage equality, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Cheng Yun-peng (鄭運鵬) said. “Three years later, we are still the only ones. Now it is time for Taiwan to take care of the next generation.”
Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang (陳明堂) told legislators at the committee meeting that the authors of the 2019 law were facing a few points of contention.
First was a debate over using a dedicated law rather than changing the Civil Code, as LGBTQ+ advocates said it would mark them as different, Chen said.
They also had to use the term “permanent union for the purpose of living a common life” rather than “marriage” to appease opponents and align the law with the referendum results from the year before, he said.
At the time, there were also reservations over the hotly debated issue of adoption rights, he said, adding that the original wording was not meant to restrict same-sex couples.
However, after three years, it is time to legally protect the children of same-sex couples, he said.
The law as it was originally written denies parents certain crucial rights, he said.
For example, only a biological parent is eligible to take parental leave and has medical power of attorney, and in the event that a biological parent dies, their partner would have no right to their child, he said.
All of these circumstances have arisen since 2019, Chen said, adding that the government has the obligation of protecting these rights.
Given that adoption is a contractual agreement, Cheng said that the court has the right to revoke a person’s parental rights if it deems them unsuitable, regardless of gender.
The Ministry of Justice in its report to the committee cited a government-commissioned survey showing that attitudes toward LGBTQ+ issues have improved since the law was passed.
In 2018, only 37.4 percent of respondents supported marriage equality, but the figure climbed to 52.5 percent in 2020 and 60.4 percent last year.
Attitudes toward adoption rights have also improved, with 53.8 of respondents approving in 2018 and 67.2 percent last year.
Asked whether same-sex couples could raise a child as well as different-sex couples, 56.2 percent of respondents agreed in 2018, while 72.2 percent agreed last year.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to