A total of 1,173 same-sex couples have registered their marriages, while two have gotten divorced since the nation on May 24 became the first in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, government statistics released yesterday showed.
One month after the Enforcement Act of Judicial Yuan Constitutional Interpretation No. 748 (司法院釋字第748號解釋施行法) went into effect, Ministry of the Interior statistics showed that among the 1,173 same-sex marriages registered so far, 790 have been between women and 383 between men.
The records also showed that 28 transnational marriages were registered, all of which were between a Taiwanese and a foreign national.
None of the couples have so far filed to adopt their partner’s biological children, while two of the couples have since obtained divorces.
Under the act, which was passed on May 17 and took effect on May 24, two people aged 18 or older of the same sex are allowed to register for marriage.
They are entitled to the same rights as heterosexual couples in the areas of inheritance and medical power of attorney. One partner may adopt the biological children of the other, but cannot adopt non-biological children who had previously been adopted by one of the two.
On the day the bill took effect, 526 couples registered marriages, ministry data showed.
Most of the couples live in New Taipei City (242), followed by Taipei (198), Kaohsiung (159), Taichung (141) and Taoyuan (123), the data showed.
The number of same-sex marriages recorded so far in five of the nation’s 22 cities and counties has been fewer than 10, while none have been registered in Lienchiang County.
Over the past month, 9,644 marriages between people of different sexes have been registered, averaging 321 per day, compared with 39 same-sex marriages per day, the statistics showed.
In related news, the ministry’s statistics showed that 54,402 couples got divorced last year, down 37 from the previous year.
On average, there were 149.05 divorces per day, compared with 149.15 in 2017 and 156.78 in 2009, the statistics showed.
The number of divorces has fluctuated over the past 10 years, rising from 57,223 in 2009 to 58,037 in 2010, then falling to 53,144 in 2014 and increasing to 54,439 in 2017, the ministry said.
Last year’s figure was 3,635 lower than in 2010, it said.
The median duration of a marriage last year was 8.25 years, down 0.27 years from 2017 and down 0.46 years from 2009, the data showed.
Among couples who got divorced, 34.3 percent had been married for fewer than five years and 21.7 percent were married for five to nine years, indicating that the divorce rate was lower among couples who had been married for more than five years, the ministry said.
Last year, 80.93 percent of couples who got divorced were both Taiwanese, while 19.07 percent were a Taiwanese and a foreign national, the statistics showed.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it is fully aware of the situation following reports that the son of ousted Chinese politician Bo Xilai (薄熙來) has arrived in Taiwan and is to marry a Taiwanese. Local media reported that Bo Guagua (薄瓜瓜), son of the former member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, is to marry the granddaughter of Luodong Poh-Ai Hospital founder Hsu Wen-cheng (許文政). The pair met when studying abroad and arranged to get married this year, with the wedding breakfast to be held at The One holiday resort in Hsinchu
The Taipei Zoo on Saturday said it would pursue legal action against a man who was filmed climbing over a railing to tease and feed spotted hyenas in their enclosure earlier that day. In videos uploaded to social media on Saturday, a man can be seen climbing over a protective railing and approaching a ledge above the zoo’s spotted hyena enclosure, before dropping unidentified objects down to two of the animals. The Taipei Zoo in a statement said the man’s actions were “extremely inappropriate and even illegal.” In addition to monitoring the hyenas’ health, the zoo would collect evidence provided by the public
‘SIGN OF DANGER’: Beijing has never directly named Taiwanese leaders before, so China is saying that its actions are aimed at the DPP, a foundation official said National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) yesterday accused Beijing of spreading propaganda, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had singled out President William Lai (賴清德) in his meeting with US President Joe Biden when talking about those whose “true nature” seek Taiwanese independence. The Biden-Xi meeting took place on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Peru on Saturday. “If the US cares about maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait, it is crucial that it sees clearly the true nature of Lai and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in seeking Taiwanese independence, handles the Taiwan question with extra
A decision to describe a Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs statement on Singapore’s Taiwan policy as “erroneous” was made because the city-state has its own “one China policy” and has not followed Beijing’s “one China principle,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) said yesterday. It has been a longstanding practice for the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to speak on other countries’ behalf concerning Taiwan, Tien said. The latest example was a statement issued by the PRC after a meeting between Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on the sidelines of the APEC summit