Taiwan Becomes First Asian Nation to Legalize Same-sex Marriage

In a historic vote last week, Taiwan became the first Asian country to legalize same-sex marriages.

Now in Taiwan, same-sex couples who marry will officially have the same tax, health care, and child care rights as their male-female couple counterparts.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen who sided with gay activists in supporting the bill wrote after its victory, “On May 17th, 2019 in Taiwan, Love Won. We took a big step toward true equality, and made Taiwan a better country”.

In 2017, the high court of Taiwan ruled that same-sex marriages are constitutional and set a deadline of two years for parliament to recognize its ruling with same-sex marriage legislation.

Due to the religious and conservative nature of many Asian countries, bills to legalize gay marriage have lagged behind many western countries.

Although Taiwan is the only Asian country to legalize gay marriage, some other countries such as Thailand are looking into legalizing same-sex civil unions.

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