Love won.
It was International Day Against Homophobia, Transphobia and Biphobia yesterday (17 May), and it was also the day Taiwan announced a piece of ground-breaking news:
Their parliament finally legalised same-sex marriage, succeeding as the first country in East Asia!
According to BBC, Taiwan’s constitutional court ruled that same-sex couples had the right to get married legally in 2017, and the parliament was given 2 years to pass the changes by 24 May 2019.
Despite the pouring rain yesterday, 40,000 people gathered in front of the Constitutional Court to support the legalisation of gay marriage, many burst into tears of joy when the result was announced.
Source: Twitter
Source: CNN
It will take effect when Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-Wen signs the bill into law before 24 May 2019.
She tweeted:
Source: Twitter
Now let’s go a little further into details on exactly what was legalised.
The lawmakers voted yesterday on three draft bills, and only one (a.k.a the most important one) was passed, that was the use of the word “marriage” for gay couples, as reported on CNN.
From 24 May 2019 onwards, gay couples in Taiwan can finally get married legally.
It was reported that couples that are 18 years old and above are eligible for marriage registration, and if one person has biological children, their partner will be allowed to adopt them. However, they are still unable to adopt children who aren’t biologically theirs.
Jennifer Lu, the chief coordinator of rights group Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan mentioned that she’s “very surprised, but also very happy”, and it’s “a very important moment” in her life. She also expressed that “it’s still not full marriage rights, and we still need to fight for co-adoption rights”.
It’s indeed a historic moment for the LGBTQ community, and we hope things keep getting better and equality to be seen in more places.
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