【By Loa Iok-sin / Staff reporter】
Twenty-eight same-sex couples yesterday showed up at a Taipei household registration office, applying to make marriage registrations despite the Civil Code stipulating that a marriage must be a union between a man and a woman.
As part of a campaign pushing for the legalization of same-sex marriage, the couples, accompanied by activists from the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights (TAPCPR), walked into Zhongzheng District Household Registration Office, took numbers and waited to submit their applications for marriage registration.
Although clerks took the applications with a friendly attitude, they apologized to the couples, as the computer system would not allow same-sex couples to make marriage registrations.
“The computer system was designed according to the Civil Code, which stipulates that a legal marriage can only be a union between a man and a woman,” office director Lin Tsung-ming (林聰明) said. “Therefore, the system would automatically reject the registration when the clerks keyed in their national ID numbers.”
“I respect the TAPCPR’s freedom of expression, but I would like to ask them not to cause trouble for other people going about their business here,” he added.
In response, TAPCPR secretary-general Chien Chih-chieh (簡至潔) said she understands that the group’s action may cause trouble for others, “however, please think about how much trouble the law has caused us for so many years.”
“LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender] people are also citizens of this country and we want to be treated equally on the right to marry,” she said.
Chen Hsin-chieh (陳欣潔), who was there with her same-sex partner, Chen Ling (陳淩), said it does not make sense that the law decides which couples can be married based on gender.
“It’s ridiculous that I can just go out and randomly find a man on the street and marry him, but I can’t marry Chen Ling after we’ve been dating for so many years,” she said.
Fang Min (方敏) and her partner, nicknamed Tang Tang (糖糖), showed up at the household registration office accompanied by Fang’s mother, who said that she would give the couple her best wishes because she wants her daughter to be happy.
Although the office did not legally register their marriage, Fang’s mother still gave rings to Fang and Tang Tang as their wedding gifts.
“I’m determined to spend my life with Fang,” Tang Tang said. “What we’re doing today is still very meaningful to both of us, even though the law does not recognize our marriage.”
[Taipei Times, 2014-08-02]
