- Taiwan has become the first Asian country to legalise same-sex marriage.
- The bill, which offers same-sex couples similar legal protections for marriage as heterosexuals, takes effect on May 24 after President Tsai Ing-wensigns it into law.
- There are some conditions associated with this law as it allows same-sex marriages only between Taiwanese, or with foreigners whose countries recognise same-sex marriage. It permits adoption of children biologically related to at least one of the same-sex pair.
- Taipei’s gay pride parade, one of Asia’s largest, puts on display every year the vibrancy of the island’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.
- In 2017, Taiwan’s constitutional court had ruled that same-sex couples had the right to legally marry. It said then that the island had two years to make necessary changes to the law. But this was met with a public backlash, which pressured the government into holding a series of referendums. Even the referendum results showed that a majority of voters in Taiwan rejected legalising same-sex marriage, saying that the definition of marriage was the union of a man and woman.
