More than 1,000 same-sex couples have wed in Taiwan since it achieved marriage equality

More than 1,000 same-sex couples have wed in Taiwan since it achieved marriage equality

In the month since becoming the first Asian parliament to legalise same-sex marriage, Taiwan has wed 1,173 same-sex couples.

Over the weekend Taiwan’s Ministry of the Interior announced that in its first month of equal marriage, 790 female couples and 383 male couples had tied the knot.

Taiwan’s parliament became the first in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage last month, in a landmark ruling.

In 2017, Taiwan’s constitutional court ruled that same-sex couples had the right to legally marry, giving parliament a two-year deadline to pass changes.

Following public backlash to the 2017 court ruling, the government held a referendum, which found that the majority of voters in Taiwan rejected legalising same-sex marriage.

Despite this, lawmakers debated three separate bills to legalise same-sex unions, with one of them ultimately passing. The other two referred to partnerships as “same-sex family relationships” or “same-sex unions” as opposed to “marriages”.

Last year, Australian MP Alex Greenwich encouraged Australians to support Taiwanese advocates in their efforts to rally support for marriage equality.

“For over a decade Australian Marriage Equality benefitted from international support to help us achieve reform, and now it’s our turn to pay it forward and return the favour,” he wrote in the Star Observer.

“Let’s support our mates in Taiwan and celebrate the one year anniversary of marriage equality in Australia by seeing love win in Taiwan.”

More than 500 nuptials took place on Taiwan’s first official day of marriage equality, on May 24.

You May Also Like

Comments are closed.