The China Post
Date: March 25, 2017
By: Sun Hsin Hsuan, The China Post with AFP

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Justice Minister Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) drew the ire of LGBTQ activists

A general view shows the constitutional court at the Judicial Yuan in Taipei on March 24. Taiwan’s constitutional court began hearing a landmark case on March 24 that could make the island the first place in Asia to allow same-sex marriage. (AFP)

Friday, after he described same-sex relationships as a “newly invented phenomenon” during a landmark Constitutional Court hearing on barriers to marriage equality.

Judges from the court on Friday heard arguments over whether the Civil Code’s description of marriage as between a man and a woman contravened the Constitution’s guarantee that “all citizens, irrespective of sex … shall be equal before the law.”

The case challenging the Civil Code was filed by veteran gay-rights activist Chi Chia-wei (祁家威), following an attempt by Chi to marry his partner in 2013 in Taipei.
[FULL  STORY]