The Council of Grand Justices yesterday ruled that the Civil Code, which says an agreement to marry can only be made between a man and a woman, “violated” constitutional guarantees of freedom of marriage and equality.
The landmark Constitutional Interpretation No. 748 rules in favor of allowing homosexual couples to register for marriage, and grand justices have asked the legislature to amend relevant laws within two years to protect the interests of homosexuals.
If the government has not changed the law in two years, same-sex couples will be allowed to register their union at household registration offices, Judicial Yuan Secretary-General Lu Tai-lang (呂太郎) said.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The Civil Code violates the freedom of marriage and equal rights for all citizens as guaranteed by the Constitution, Lu said.
The grand justices made the ruling after receiving two requests for a constitutional interpretation of the issue.
One request was filed by veteran gay rights advocate Chi Chia-wei (祁家威) in 2015 after his attempt to register his same-sex marriage was rejected by Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華) household registration office in 2013 and subsequent court appeals failed.
Photo: CNA
The other request was filed by the Taipei Department of Civil Affairs in 2015, after three same-sex couples filed an administrative lawsuit against the government after their marriage registrations were rejected by the department.
Justice Huang Jui-ming (黃瑞明) abstained from the vote and took no part in deliberations, the ruling said.
Dissenting opinions were filed by Justice Huang Horng-shya (黃虹霞) and Justice Wu Chen-huan (吳陳鐶).
“Marriage is a union between a man and a woman, who live life together as an institution, which is protected by the Constitution. Making changes would involve altering social and cultural values, which should not be made by merely copying developments in other nations... Therefore, the decision to legalize same-sex marriage should be made by a referendum,” Wu said.
It is a fallacy to rule that Civil Code provisions are unconstitutional, Huang Horng-shya said.
Same-sex marriage is not a fundamental human right to be universally protected, she said.
She said that she supports legislating legal protections of civil unions for same-sex adults, but does not view a homosexual union the same way as a marriage between a man and a woman.
Among the main reasons cited for the majority decision were that prior interpretations mentioning “husband and wife” or “a man and a woman” were made within the context of heterosexual marriage.
“This court has not made any interpretation on the issue of whether two people of the same sex are allowed to marry,” the ruling said.
The Civil Code does not require the ability to procreate as a requirement for marriage and reproduction is not an essential element of marriage, the ruling said, adding that procreation should not be an essential element of marriage.
Opposition to same-sex marriage based on safeguarding social and ethical values is incompatible with the spirit and meaning of equal rights as protected by the Constitution, the ruling said.
The Judicial Yuan also issued a three-page abstract on the ruling in Chinese and English, to accompany Constitutional Interpretation No. 748, which is 24 pages long.
Legal experts said it was rare for the Judicial Yuan to issue an English-language statement of a constitutional interpretation. They see the move as an official declaration to the international media of the decision that has made Taiwan the first Asian nation to recognize same-sex unions.
In response to media queries over whether same-sex foreign nationals could register their marriage in Taiwan, Lu did not give a direct answer, but said they would have to abide by provisions in the Act Governing the Choice of Law in Civil Matters Involving Foreign Elements (涉外民事法律適用法).
additional reporting by CNA
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS