page_title: Same-sex marriage in Taiwan
section_title: Early history
hierarchical_section_title: Same-sex marriage in Taiwan / Same-sex marriage / Early history
caption_attribution_description: English: One of four newly wedded couple of the public wedding of Taiwan Pride 2006.
context_page_description: Same-sex marriage in Taiwan became legal on 24 May 2019. This made Taiwan the first nation in Asia to perform same-sex marriages. Though same-sex marriage is legalized, there are still limitations for same-sex couples, including adoption.
  On 24 May 2017, the Constitutional Court ruled that the marriage law was unconstitutional and that the constitutional right to equality and freedom of marriage guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry under the Constitution of the Republic of China. The ruling gave the Legislative Yuan two years to bring the law into compliance, after which registration of such marriages would come into force automatically. Following the ruling, progress on implementing a same-sex marriage law was slow due to strong opposition from conservative groups and government inaction. In November 2018, the Taiwanese electorate passed referendums to prevent recognition of same-sex marriages in the Civil Code and to restrict teaching sex education with LGBT issues. The Government responded by confirming that the court ruling would be implemented and that the referendums could not support laws contrary to the Constitution.
context_section_description: In 2003, the Executive Yuan proposed legislation granting marriages to same-sex couples, but the bill was rejected in 2006 and was not passed into law because of majority opposition from legislators, which included both DPP and KMT members of the Legislative Yuan.
  In August 2012, two women participated in what the media called Taiwan's first same-sex marriage ceremony. Around the same time, President Ma Ying-jeou, Chairman of the governing Kuomintang (KMT), restated his respect for LGBT rights but said public support was needed before the government could approve a same-sex marriage law.
  The Ministry of Justice's Department of Legal Affairs commissioned a study on legal recognitions of same-sex unions in Canada, Germany and France in 2012, but after pressure from critics, commissioned a further study for 2013 on the state of same-sex relationships in Asian countries for comparison.
  In 2012, Su Tseng-chang, then-Chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), expressed support for same-sex marriage. Despite some division within the party on the issue, DPP's victorious presidential candidate for the January 2016 election, Tsai Ing-wen, announced her support of same-sex marriage in November 2015. She is the first major party candidate to come out in support of same-sex marriage.
  In March 2012, a same-sex couple, Ching-Hsueh Chen (陳敬學) and Chih-Wei Kao (高治瑋), applied to the Taipei High Administrative Court to have their marriage recognized. The first hearing took place on April 10, 2012. The couple was accompanied by their mothers and received the personal blessings from the judges for their love, although the judges said that wouldn't have any repercussions in their final ruling. The next hearing was set to take place a month later, and the court was due to hand down a decision on December 20. Instead, the court reneged on a ruling, opting to send the case to the Council of Grand Justices in the Judicial Yuan for a constitutional interpretation. The case was then voluntarily withdrawn by the couple due to the hesitancy of the judiciary in taking on the case.
  On 25 October 2013, a petition-initiated bill to revise the Civil Code to allow for same-sex couples to be eligible for marriage was introduced by 23 lawmakers from the DPP in the Legislative Yuan. It was immediately referred to the Yuan's Judicial Committee for review and possible first reading.
  On 22 December 2014, a proposed amendment to the Civil Code which would have legalized same-sex marriage was due to go under review by the Judiciary Committee. If the amendment had passed the committee stage it would have then been voted on at the plenary session of the Legislative Yuan in 2015. The amendment, called the marriage equality amendment, would have inserted neutral terms into the Civil Code replacing ones that implied heterosexual marriage, effectively legalizing same-sex marriage. It would have also allowed same-sex couples to adopt children. Yu Mei-nu, of the DPP, expressed support for the amendment as did more than 20 other DPP lawmakers as well as two from the Taiwan Solidarity Union and one each from the KMT and the People First Party.
  On 28 June 2015, a senior Ministry of Justice official stated same-sex marriage would remain illegal in Taiwan "for now". Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang said "...in Taiwan, the issue of legalizing same-sex marriage remains extremely controversial...so we should not consider it for now". He added that while the Ministry of Justice opposed measures that would legalize same-sex marriages outright, it would support a more gradual approach, including offering better protection to same-sex couples under current laws, such as their rights to equal medical treatment and taxation.
caption: One of four newly wedded couples at a public wedding at Taiwan Pride 2006
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