Taiwan’s top court has ruled that current regulations prohibiting marriage between partners of the same sex are unconstitutional.
The constitutional court’s ruling means that the island is set to become the first Asian country to recognise same-sex marriage.
Announcing the result of a two-month-long constitutional review on Wednesday afternoon, the panel of 14 judges ordered the legislature to either amend the Civil Code or introduce new provisions to recognise same-sex marriage within two years.
The court said that the current regulations are in violation of constitutional rights to the freedom of marriage and equality among citizens.
#Taiwan rules that the freedom of marriage for two persons include “whether to marry” and “whom to marry” – full text below #loveislove pic.twitter.com/i6f0Ob9IQA
— Ministry of Culture 🇹🇼 (@CulturalTaiwan) May 24, 2017
“The current provisions of the Marriage Chapter do not allow two persons of the same sex to create a permanent union of intimate and exclusive nature,” wrote the court in a press release. “This is obviously a gross legislative flaw.”
Two of the 14 judges dissented, while one refrained from filing an opinion.
Celebrations
Hundreds of same-sex marriage supporters celebrated in Taipei outside the legislature, in a demonstration held by gay rights group Marriage Equality Coalition.
“We can finally get married!” shouted demonstrators outside the Legislative Yuan.
Opponents, however, remain camped outside the judiciary building following their protest on Tuesday. Anti-gay rights activist Abdulluh Musad has staged an ongoing hunger strike for four days at Taipei’s Liberty Square.
30-year struggle
Wednesday’s review was brought to court by two parties, one of which is Chi Chia-wei, a 59-year-old gay rights activist who first attempted to register a marriage with his male partner in 1986.
With Taiwan under martial law at the time, he was imprisoned for five months. The legislature responded to his petition calling homosexuality “a perversion of a minority.”
Chi was joined in his current petition by the Department of Civil Affairs of the Taipei government, which earlier said it would respect the court’s ruling no matter what.
See also: Deep divisions in Taiwan over gay marriage reform
Existing regulations stipulating marriage as a union between a man and a woman have also been challenged in a bill proposed by legislator Yu Mei-nu of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. The Legislative Yuan passed the first of three readings of the bill last December, but a final review is not expected until later this year.
