New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Freddy Lim (林昶佐) yesterday proposed a draft same-sex marriage bill that he said focuses on protecting the rights and interests of children with same-sex parents.
Lim’s proposal, titled the “Draft Same-sex Marriage Equality Protection Act,” says that two individuals of the same sex may become engaged or marry following the regulations in the Civil Code that apply to heterosexual couples and that same-sex marriages would have the same legal effect as marriages defined in the Civil Code as unions between a man and a woman.
The draft proposal would also allow people in same-sex marriages to have a child through assisted reproduction with the approval of their partner.
Photo: Chiang Chih-hsiung, Taipei Times
The regulations prescribed in the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) would apply to couples in same-sex marriages, and children conceived by same-sex couples using assisted reproduction would be considered children born in wedlock, the proposal says.
Article 7 of Lim’s draft would recognize same-sex marriages between a Republic of China (ROC) citizen and a foreigner performed under the law of the country of citizenship of one party or the law of the nation in which the marriage was performed.
The proposal focuses not on the title, but on granting children born in same-sex marriages the same legal protection as other children born in wedlock, said Lim, who has begun collecting signatures for his proposal.
The bill is a counterproposal to a draft act unveiled by the Executive Yuan on Wednesday titled the “enforcement act of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748.”
The title, which refers to the Council of Grand Justices’ ruling on May 24, 2017, that the Civil Code’s definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman is unconstitutional, does not include the word “marriage” — a topic of much debate between supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage.
Lin said that he was “impressed” by the person who thought of the title.
The NPP supports Lim’s proposal, NPP Legislator and caucus whip Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said yesterday.
Hsu said that he had signed a petition supporting Lim’s proposal and if it did not gather enough signatures to be considered, the NPP would consider proposing a competing same-sex marriage bill, using Lim’s version as the foundation.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
Many Chinese spouses required to submit proof of having renounced their Chinese household registration have either completed the process or provided affidavits ahead of the June 30 deadline, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. Of the 12,146 people required to submit the proof, 5,534 had done so as of Wednesday, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. Another 2,572 people who met conditions for exemption or deferral from submitting proof of deregistration — such as those with serious illnesses or injuries — have submitted affidavits instead, he said. “As long as individuals are willing to cooperate with the legal
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
The Ministry of Environment yesterday held a seminar in Taipei for experts from Taiwan and Japan to exchange their experiences on the designs and development of public toilets. Japan Toilet Association chairman Kohei Yamamoto said that he was impressed with the eco-toilet set up at Daan Forest Park, adding that Japan still faces issues regarding public restrooms despite the progress it made over the past decades. For example, an all-gender toilet was set up in Kabukicho in Tokyo’s Shinjuku District several years ago, but it caused a public backlash and was rebuilt into traditional men’s and women’s toilets, he said. Japan Toilet Association
RSS