Taiwan court rules in favor of same sex marriage

By Park Si-soo

Taiwan's top court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage on Wednesday, making the island the first place in Asia to recognize gay unions.

The Constitutional Court said the current civil code that does not permit same-sex marriages was a violation of two articles of the constitution of the Republic of China, Taiwan's official name. It said that authorities must either enact or amend related t laws within two years.

“The need, capability, willingness and longing, in both physical and psychological senses, for creating such permanent unions of intimate and exclusive nature are equally essential to homosexuals and heterosexuals, given the importance of the freedom of marriage to the sound development of personality and safeguarding of human dignity,” the court said in its ruling.

Two of the court's 15 justices filed dissenting opinions and one recused himself in the case.

According to reports, Taiwan legislation is already working its way through the legislature, where both the ruling and major opposition parties support legalization of same-sex marriage.

According to the Associated Press, gays and lesbians in Taiwan have formed an effective lobby in recent years, with an annual Gay Pride march drawing tens of thousands. While some conservative religious and social groups have mobilized against same-sex marriage, their influence is much less potent than in the United States and many other parts of the world, it said.

Gay and lesbian couples had been allowed to marry in only 22 countries. In Asia, Taiwan is the first government to legalize such unions, while South Africa is the only country in Africa to allow them. More than 70 countries continue to criminalize homosexual activity.