Taipei: 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.
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 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. Premier Su Tseng-chang called the unveiling of the bill a “historical moment.”
