Voice of America
Date: May 13, 2019
By: Reuters
FILE – Supporters of LGBT wave rainbow flags during a rally supporting a proposal to allow same-sex marriage, in Taipei, Taiwan, Dec. 10, 2016.
KUALA LUMPUR — Taiwan’s lawmakers must back the government’s draft same-sex law and make the self-ruled island the first place in Asia to allow such unions, LGBT+ campaigners said on Monday, ahead of a key vote in parliament this week.
Taiwan has until May 24 to legalize same-sex marriage after a 2017 ruling by the island’s top court. The court did not give specific guidance on how laws regulating such unions should be drawn up.
Parliament will vote on Friday on same-sex marriage but there are three bills that have been proposed – one by the government and two by lawmakers which LGBT+ groups have described as discriminatory.
“We won’t accept any more compromise because the (government’s) bill is already our bottom line,” said Jennifer Lu, the chief coordinator of Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan, an alliance of groups that support gay rights.
“If one of the two other bills is passed, we will launch another constitutional court challenge,” she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. [FULL STORY]