Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/05/13
By: Stacy Hsu 
Taipei, May 13 (CNA) The level of anxiety is high in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community ahead of highly anticipated negotiations in the Legislature on Tuesday to reconcile three competing draft bills on same-sex relationships.

The conclusions reached by the item-by-item review of the three proposals will be put to a vote of the full Legislative Yuan on May 17, with the result determining the rights, obligations and levels of protection same-sex couples will be entitled to if they register a legal union after May 24.

May 24 is the deadline imposed by Taiwan’s Constitutional Court in its Interpretation No. 748 for resolving the issue after it found the Civil Code’s prohibition of unions between two people of the same gender to be unconstitutional.

The interpretation, handed down on May 24, 2017, called for a legislative remedy within two years to guarantee same-sex couples the freedom of marriage and equal protections they are currently denied under the Civil Code.    [FULL  STORY]