Taiwan unveils long-awaited gay marriage bill

A woman takes part in a rally in support of same-sex marriage near the Presidential Office in Taipei on November 18, 2018, ahead of a landmark vote on LGBT rights on November 24. AFP

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s ruling party unveiled its latest attempt to create Asia’s first gay marriage law on Thursday, a bill offering same sex-couples “permanent unions” as well as limited adoption rights, despite stiff opposition from conservatives.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has had a stuttering and troubled journey towards delivering on their 2016 election promise to grant same-sex couples equal marriage rights.

In November, conservatives won a referendum against revising the island’s Civil Code to allow gay marriage, in a blow to President Tsai Ing-wen’s party and a stark illustration of the social divide caused by the issue.

The referendum came after Taiwan’s Constitutional Court voted to legalize gay marriage in 2017 — the first place in Asia to do so — arguing that denying same-sex couples marriage rights was unconstitutional.

The court ordered the government to amend the law by May 24, 2019 but did not specify how it wanted gay marriage to be brought in.

The bill published Thursday by the cabinet is the Tsai administration’s attempt to square that circle — a new law that meets the court’s demands while trying to respect the referendum result by not altering the Civil Code which currently defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

The draft law released by the justice ministry proposes allowing “two persons of the same sex to create a permanent union of intimate and exclusive nature for the committed purpose of managing a life together to realise the equal protection of the freedom of marriage.”

Gay couples will be allowed to adopt the biological children of their partner while both parties are financially responsible for each other and are entitled to inheritance rights.

The law is set to take effect on May 24 but needs to pass parliament, where the DPP holds a majority.

Taiwan is seen as one of the most progressive societies in Asia when it comes to gay rights, and it stages the biggest gay pride parade in Asia annually.

Gay marriage rights receives high approval ratings among young people in particular.

But it also remains a staunchly conservative place with powerful religious lobbies, especially outside of urban areas and analysts say DPP underestimated how controversial their gay marriage proposals would be.

President Tsai openly supported the legalisation of gay marriage before she was elected but has since said there needs to be more consensus in society.

If the bill is passed it would be Asia’s first gay marriage law. In December Thailand’s junta rulers proposed a similar bill but it has yet to make it parliament in the kingdom that is currently in the midst of an election campaign. /ee