Taiwan first in Asia for Marriage Equality-‘lite’

It took a court ruling and a contentious fight over an anti-marriage referendum but marriage equality was approved for Taiwan. Almost. The law allows for registration outside the “civil code,” which is reserved for hetero-marriage. The 66–27 vote recognizes same-sex marriages and gives couples many of the tax, insurance and child custody benefits available to male-female married couples. Taiwan’s high court ruled on May 24, 2017, that barring marriage equality is unconstitutional and gave the legislature two years to pass a law or same-sex marriage would be legalized automatically. A public referendum in November 2018 voted to deny same-sex couples full marriage rights. Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party submitted legislation complying with both the court ruling and the referendum. Lin Tai-Hua, the legislation sponsor, said the law represents a major step forward. “But we will keep on fighting for full marriage rights.” Taiwan is the first Asian country to recognize same-sex marriage rights. Thailand has allowed registration of civil unions for some time, China says not only no, but Hell No.