Taipei Times
Date: Oct 14, 2017
By: Wu Po-wei and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Veteran gay rights advocate Chi Chia-wei (祁家威), who was yesterday announced as
Veteran gay rights advocate Chi Chia-wei holds up a rainbow flag in an undated photograph. Photo: Courtesy of the General Association of Chinese Culture
the winner of the Presidential Culture Award in the social reform category, said that he wished he could exchange the award for the right of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) couples in the nation to register their marriages immediately.
Chi — who applied for what would on May 24 result in Constitutional Interpretation No. 748, which has been hailed as a milestone of LGBT rights in Taiwan — said he wished the government would expedite efforts to legalize same-sex marriage.
“Taiwanese should not be kept waiting two more years,” he said.
The constitutional interpretation says that parts of the Civil Code that render same-sex marriages illegal are unconstitutional and that amendments legalizing same-sex marriage should be written into law within two years. Should the amendments not be passed within the allotted time, same-sex couples may use extant Civil Code regulations to register their marital status at household registration offices.
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