Taiwan passes bill that allows same-sex couples to adopt children
By Bryan Ke
Taiwan’s legislature has passed an amendment that will grant same-sex couples the right to jointly adopt children.
The amendment was passed on May 16, a week before the fourth anniversary when Taiwan made it legal for same-sex couples to marry in the island nation, the first of its kind in Asia.
Fan Yun, a member of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and one of the lawmakers who led the charge for change, celebrated the Taiwanese legislature’s decision.
I am very excited that we granted joint adoption rights to same-sex couples today. Legally, we have finally returned same-sex couples to their children. Parental love is the same, and only through joint adoption can we protect the rights and interests of each other by law.
Draped in a rainbow flag, the symbol of LGBTQ+ pride, Fan added, “In the future, spouses and parents, regardless of gender and sexual orientation, can have full legal protection.”
With the new law, same-sex couples now have the right to adopt children biologically unrelated to either of them, an obstacle couples looking to become legal parents had to face even after the island nation made it legal for gay couples to marry on May 24, 2019.
“After four years of hard work, today the parliament finally passed the (bill for) adoption without blood relationship by same-sex couples,” non-government advocacy group Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights said in a statement.
Before the amendment, couples had to jump through several legal hoops before they could adopt, such as filing for divorce so one partner could legally adopt and then remarrying. Even with that, the other partner would not have been recognized as a legal parent as the adopted child would not be related by blood.
The latest news came months after the Taiwanese government officially acknowledged same-sex marriages of transnational couples in January. Before the decision, Taiwanese nationals were only allowed to marry those who came from countries that also recognized same-sex marriage.
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