Taiwan has become the first in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage
The BBC reports that Taiwan’s parliament has voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage.
In 2017, Taiwan’s Constitutional Court ruled that restricting marriage to be exclusively between a man and a woman was unconstitutional. The court gave parliament two years to amend the law.
On Friday, Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan passed a bill allowing same-sex couples to legally marry – a first for Asia. The bill was passed by 66 to 27 votes.
Hundreds gathered outside the parliament building in Taipei to celebrate the historic moment.
“The fight for equality does not stop here. We will continue to fight against discrimination, bullying and defend gender equality education”, Jennifer Lu, chief co-ordinator of rights group Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan said.
“For me the outcome today is not 100 percent perfect, but it’s still pretty good for the gay community as it provides legal definition,” said gay pastor Elias Tseng.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen tweeted, “we took a big step towards true equality, and made Taiwan a better country.”
On May 17th, 2019 in #Taiwan, #LoveWon. We took a big step towards true equality, and made Taiwan a better country. 🏳️🌈
— 蔡英文 Tsai Ing-wen (@iingwen) May 17, 2019
— Khóo 🏳️🌈 LoveWon (@khootiatling) May 17, 2019
Good work, Taiwan.👏🏻
Gay people across the globe have every bit of right to add to the soaring divorce rate as the rest of us.😄🇹🇼
— Anthony Middleton (@ManVsClock) May 17, 2019
Blows my mind we are in 2019 and on one end we have Taiwan legalising gay marriage and the other end is parts of America banning abortion and putting women’s lives at risk.
— Amy Natasha (@AmyNatasha) May 17, 2019
