The Taipei High Administrative Court yesterday ruled that a Taiwanese and his Japanese partner should not have been prevented from registering their same-sex marriage with a local household registration office.
The court voided the decision by the office in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) to reject the application for marriage registration filed by Lu Yin-jen (盧盈任) and Eizaburo Ariyoshi on May 7 last year, saying that it should have been accepted.
Three years after Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage, Lu and Ariyoshi would be free to marry, provided the household registration office does not file an appeal within 20 days of receiving the verdict.
Photo: CNA
“We have been together for seven years, and now we can finally become, legitimately, husband and husband,” Lu, 34, told a news conference following a trial that lasted less than five minutes.
Ariyoshi, 42, said that he felt “really, really happy and relieved” about the result, adding that he and Lu had held a wedding ceremony shortly after Taiwan legalized same-sex marriage in May 2019.
Lu and Ariyoshi took their case to court in December last year after their marriage application was rejected by two household registration offices, which said that Ministry of the Interior rules ban same-sex marriages involving at least one partner from a country or region that does not recognize such unions.
Despite three more Taipei High Administrative Court rulings in favor of couples involving partners from Malaysia, Macau and Singapore since March last year, the ministry has reiterated that it is legally bound to reject the registration of such marriages under 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), which says that the formation of a marriage is governed by the national law of each party’s home country.
The ministry’s rule has led to at least 467 cross-national same-sex couples — including some who registered their marriage in a third country — being prevented from registering their marriage in Taiwan, said the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights, which provided pro bono support to Lu and Ariyoshi.
Alliance secretary-general Chien Chih-chieh (簡至潔) said that the continued rejection of certain cross-national same-sex marriages is “illegal.”
Chien said the fourth Taipei High Administrative Court ruling in favor of such couples showed that no legal amendments would be needed, contradicting the government’s position.
A draft amendment sent to the Executive Yuan by the Judicial Yuan in January last year has yet to be approved, Chien said, calling on the government to allow all cross-national same-sex unions immediately by issuing another directive or implementing other measures.
Cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) in May said that discussions on the draft had been held several times over the past year, but that more assessment and communication were needed before the amendment could be sent to the legislature.
Chien said that her organization would continue helping cross-national same-sex couples sue the government over rejected marriage registrations.
Victoria Hsu (許秀雯), a lawyer working with the alliance, urged the Daan Household Registration Office to not lodge an appeal against yesterday’s ruling, describing it as “wasting judicial resources.”
Hsu said that the government should act in accordance with the Constitution, which ensures freedom of marriage and equal rights for all.
In a news statement, the ministry said it respected the ruling, as well as the household registration office’s right to appeal it.
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