TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan will recognize same-sex marriages between Taiwanese-Chinese couples, meaning cross-strait same-sex couples will be able to register their marriage in Taiwan in the same way as opposite-sex couples currently can.
The interior ministry issued a press release that said after discussing the issue in Cabinet, it was decided Taiwan will recognize Taiwanese-Chinese same-sex marriages when couples marry in a location outside Taiwan and China from Thursday (Sept. 19) forward. After the decision, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said the legal procedures for registering a cross-strait same-sex marriage in Taiwan will be the same as it is for opposite-sex couples.
The couples will first have to marry in one of the 35 countries that allow same-sex marriage, and after submitting their marriage certificate and other documents, the couples will have to pass an interview, MAC Spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. After this process is complete, their marriage will be registered in Taiwan.
The government's cross-strait relations framework for managing marriages has been consistent for more than 30 years, the interior ministry said. It said that because of this, any adjustments must take into account national security, social stability and be supported by the majority of society.
LGBTQ rights advocate and Legislator Huang Jie (黃捷) said the change means Taiwan has taken one step closer to marriage equality. “I have received many requests for help from cross-strait same-sex couples since the law was changed in 2019, finally good news is here,” Huang wrote in a Facebook post.
Huang said her next priority will be to ensure authorities treat same-sex and opposite-sex couples equally when they apply to have their marriage recognized in Taiwan. She also took the opportunity to thank rights groups for their work promoting marriage equality in Taiwan.
One of the groups Huang thanked was the Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights, which has campaigned for the rights of cross-strait couples since Taiwan legalized same sex marriage. The group said in a press release that it welcomed the change, and thanked mainland affairs Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) for creating a path forward for cross-strait couples.
However, the group added more changes are needed to achieve full marriage equality in Taiwan. Because of the requirement that Taiwanese-Chinese same sex couples marry in a third location, they will continue to face higher economic barriers to marriage than opposite-sex couples, they said.
Taiwan became the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage in May 2019, and recognized transnational same sex marriages from places other than mainland China in January 2023.