Taiwan's constitutional court ruled
Wednesday that limiting marriage to heterosexual couples violates the
island nation's constitution.
The court gave parliament, known as the
Legislative Yuan, two years to amend or enact a law that allows gay
and lesbian couples to marry. The groundbreaking ruling is a first
for Asia.
According to several reports, two
justices dissented and one recused himself, saying that his wife
supported the cause of marriage equality, effectively delivering an
11-2 ruling.
After years of refusing to take up the
issue, the court listened to arguments in March.
“We feel that this is a huge success
for the LGBT and marriage equality movement in Taiwan,” Wayne Lin,
an LGBT activist, told
CNN. We want to amend the Civil Code so same-sex couples can get
married. … Our target is to complete this whole process within this
year.”
President Tsai Ing-wen supports
marriage equality and several polls indicate that a majority of
Taiwanese do, as well. A marriage bill introduced last year
stalled.