Human rights groups in Taiwan and Japan have called on the government to change its stance of only allowing mixed-nationality same-sex couples to marry in Taiwan if they come from a country that also recognizes same-sex marriage.
The groups, including the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR), Taiwan Tongzhi (LGBTQ+) Hotline Association, Amnesty international’s branches in Taiwan and Japan, and Marriage for All Japan held a news conference Wednesday in Taipei in support of the legal fight of a Taiwanese man known as A-shu (??) and his Japanese partner Eizaburo Ariyoshi.
Because Japan does not recognize same-sex marriage, the couple’s application to register their marriage in Taipei on May 7, 2021 was rejected by the Household Registration Office in the city’s Da’an District, even though a Taiwan-Macau couple in the same situation won a legal case on the previous day.
Legal wrangling in Taiwan, Japan
After going through the government’s internal appeals process, A-Shu and Ariyoshi filed a suit on Dec. 23, 2021 at the Taipei High Administrative Court — the same court that ruled in favor of the Taiwan-Macau couple — for their right to be married in Taiwan, according to the TAPCPR.
Several same-sex couples have been fighting through the courts in Japan for marriage equality since February 2019, Makiko Terahara, a lawyer from Marriage for All Japan, said via video link during the news conference.
Although three Taiwanese married to foreigners who come from a country where same-sex marriage is not legal have been able to register their marriage through a court order, the TAPCPR said the Ministry of the Interior still insists that it is unwilling to change its stance opposing such unions.
According to the ministry’s Department of Household Registration, same-sex marriages can be registered between a Taiwanese national and a foreigner from 28 countries or regions that have legalized such unions, including the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina, and several European countries.
However, the ministry said in situations involving foreign nationals outside these 28 countries or regions, the Act Governing the Choice of Law in Civil Matters Involving Foreign Elements would be followed. The act currently excludes the application of family law to foreigners.
As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in May 2019, Taiwan should not have a system that only allows some couples to be married but not others, Victoria Hsu (???), a lawyer representing A-Shu and Ariyoshi, said.
The TAPCPR has been urging the Executive Yuan to send a draft amendment to the Act Governing the Choice of Law in Civil Matters Involving Foreign Elements to the Legislature so that the legal hurdles many couples face can be solved. The amendment was received by the Executive Yuan from the Judicial Yuan in early 2021 and would allow all mixed-nationality same-sex couples to register their marriages in Taiwan.
Control Yuan weighs in
Three members of Taiwan’s top government watchdog body made similar calls to the Executive Yuan on Tuesday, saying that the over one-year delay in sending the proposal to the Legislature had meant that more than 300 mixed-nationality same-sex couples had been unable to get married in Taiwan.
Barring these couples from registering their marriage in Taiwan contravenes the 2017 ruling by Taiwan’s Constitutional Court, which stated that not allowing same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, Control Yuan members Chi Hui-jung (???), Yeh Ta-hua (???), and Wang Yu-ling (???) said in a joint statement.
Chi, Yeh, and Wang also criticized the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Taiwan’s top government agency handling China policy, for dragging its feet on allowing same-sex couples in which one member of a couple is Taiwanese and the other Chinese to register their marriage.
Under the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, the legal effect of marriages of such couples is subject to the laws of Taiwan, which should have allowed them to register their marriages in Taiwan after the Legislature officially passed a marriage equality law in 2019, the three members said in the statement.
However, MAC has insisted that amendments to the laws governing China, Hong Kong, and Macau affairs must be made and administrative measures must be changed before they can begin to process these marriage registrations, according to the statement.
Chi, Yeh, and Wang called on the Executive Yuan and the MAC to draft revisions to the law so that same-sex couples involving a foreign or Chinese national can register their marriages in Taiwan.
Before these revisions are implemented, the Executive Yuan and MAC should consider allowing non-Taiwanese partners of a same-sex couple who have already registered their marriage in a third country to apply for residency in Taiwan.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel