Taiwan's legislature on Tuesday passed legislation allowing adoption for same-sex couples for the first time in the East Asian territory's history
Taiwan was the first country in Asia to legislate gay marriage in 2019 and continues to be the most progressive country in the Far East when it comes to LGBT rights.
The new legislation ended an ironic situation in which gay couples had to register for adoption separately, since the territory law allows singles to adopt children. Meaning. This is that they were placed low in prioritization for adoption as priority was given to married couples.
"I am so happy that we succeeded and today granted the public adoption for same-sex couples," Pan Yun, a lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. Legally, we gave gay couples back the opportunity to have children. Parental love is the same for everyone and only through equal adoption for all can we protect the right to parenthood by law," she said.
The Taiwanese Alliance for Equality in Relationships, which has been working for LGBTQ rights in the country for nearly two decades, released a statement saying: "Today's success shows that there is a consensus in Taiwan to protect the human rights of members of the LGBTQ community and support for gender equality."
The gay community has suffered discrimination in the courts for years, despite the fact that gay marriage has been legal in the country for four years. In January, a historic precedent occurred when a court allowed a gay couple from Kaohsiung City to adopt a child after the reason for adoption was the child's best interests. However, courts have continued, despite precedent, to reject most requests from gay couples to adopt.
In recent months, the gay community has exerted pressure on lawmakers affiliated with it to initiate and promote a law that would solve the problem of adoption, and the Democratic Progressive Party's majority in parliament allowed the initiative to succeed in a relatively short time.
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