Despite its historic achievement, the Taiwanese same-sex marriage law passed in 2019 did not provide full legal equality. One glaring omission is the right of all transnational same-sex couples to lawfully marry.
We are the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR) and, as the leading legal aid organization for LGBTI rights in Taiwan, started raising awareness and campaigning for the rights of transnational same-sex couples back in 2017. We also represented several clients to initiate relevant litigation in 2019.
Same-sex couples in which one partner is Taiwanese and the other is a foreign national of a country that does not yet recognize same-sex marriage are not permitted to marry, as per Article 46 of Taiwan’s “Act Governing the Choice of Law in Civil Matters Involving Foreign Elements” which is currently interpreted as prohibiting such marriages in Taiwan. We believe that this interpretation is illegal and unjust, and transnational same-sex couples have finally won two court cases this year! Nevertheless, the government still refuses to promptly modify its interpretation or to amend relevant laws and regulations. The Judicial Yuan has prepared a draft amendment of Article 46 of Taiwan’s “Act Governing the Choice of Law in Civil Matters Involving Foreign Elements” and sent it to the cabinet (Executive Yuan) back in January 2021, but the cabinet has not yet sent the bill to the Legislative Yuan (our parliament).
The threat of COVID-19 has made the situation of transnational same-sex partners even more precarious than usual. We need more people to stand with us in this fight for true marriage equality!
The Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights ("TAPCPR") was founded in 2009, and registered with the Ministry of the Interior in August 2012. We drafted three bills for “diverse family formation” in 2012, which laid the foundation for future legislation. In 2017, we represented Chi Chia-Wei and won the same-sex marriage case (“Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748”), making Taiwan the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in May 2019.
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