About 1,500 supporters of same-sex marriage gathered outside the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday, as lawmakers negotiated versions of a bill to fulfill the requirements of the Council of Grand Justices’ Interpretation No. 748.
The council on May 24, 2017, ruled that the Civil Code’s prohibition of same-sex marriage is unconstitutional and set a two-year deadline for the law to be amended to allow marriage between partners of the same sex.
The rally, which was organized by LGBT rights group Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan, was held in support of the Executive Yuan’s version of the bill.
Photo: CNA
Pegatron Corp (和碩) chairman Tung Tzu-hsien (童子賢), actress Wen Chen-ling (溫貞菱) and director Yee Chih-yen (易智言) were among the celebrities at the rally.
The Executive Yuan’s bill is already a compromise for LGBT groups, who would not accept any other possibility, coalition chief coordinator Jennifer Lu (呂欣潔) said.
While the Cabinet’s bill is not perfect, as it does not guarantee “complete marriage equality,” it is a compromise that LGBT rights advocates are willing to make to end the dispute between those who support and oppose marriage equality, and out of respect for societal harmony, she said.
LGBT groups would not accept a bill that does not allow same-sex partners to register their marriage or become legal spouses, she said, adding that “unions” cannot replace marriage.
Meanwhile, the Coalition for the Happiness of Our Next Generation hosted a news conference in Taipei calling on lawmakers not to force the passage of a same-sex marriage bill, saying that doing so would be against the will of the people.
The Legislative Yuan is required to enact legislation based on the principle that the Civil Code defines marriage as between a man and a woman, the group said, adding that this “new legislative principle” was introduced with the passage last year of Referendum No. 10, which asked: “Do you agree that the Civil Code should define marriage as the union between a man and a woman?”
The group urged the Legislative Yuan to adopt the “draft enforcement act of Referendum No. 12,” one of the three proposed bills.
The version, which was introduced by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), would guarantee the right of two people of the same sex to live together, it said.
Lawmakers failed to reach a consensus during negotiations, but agreed to remove an article in Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Lin Tai-hua’s (林岱樺) bill that would have given a same-sex couple’s relatives the right to request the annulment of their union.
The Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan is to host another rally outside the Legislative Yuan on Friday as lawmakers vote on the bills.
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
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats
RSS