A senior Ministry of Justice official says legalization of gay marriage is “extremely controversial” in Taiwan. He also adds that the government will not consider making same-sex marriage legal for the time being.
The official is Deputy Justice Minister Chen Ming-tang. He made the comments to reporters on Saturday after the US Supreme Court ruled that the US Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry.
In Taiwan, there have been repeated calls for legal amendments and for the Justices of the Constitutional Court to interpret the constitution in such a way that would allow same-sex marriage to be legally recognized.
However, Chen said public opinion must be taken into consideration so the government would not consider legalizing gay marriage for now. But he also said that certain rights of same-sex couples should be protected. He said according to a proposal submitted to the Cabinet by the Ministry of Justice, government agencies should study how to offer better protection to same-sex couples under current laws. He also said that the next step would be to work on new legislation that allows same-sex marriage.