Taiwan: Christian groups protest against equal marriage public hearing
Christian groups in Taiwan protested a public hearing on equal marriage on Wednesday outside the Taiwanese parliament in Taipei.
Yesterday, Democratic People’s Party (DPP) Legislator Yu Mei-nu addressed preliminary plans to legalise same-sex marriage.
She said the hearing was “an equal approach to encompass everybody into the constitution.”
However, nearly 200 members of the Alliance of Religious Groups for the Love of Families Taiwan protested outside the hearing, chanting that equal marriage is not a human right.
According to the China Post, other protesters also phoned the DPP headquarters to complain the party was promoting homosexuality.
At the hearing, Deputy Minister of Justice Chen Ming-tang said: “We hope the Legislative Yuan considers a progressive amendment to the laws.”
However, he added that changing “man and woman, husband and wife, and father and mother” to gender-neutral terms on legislation would affect too many regulations.
The Bill, proposed by DPP lawmakers, has been stalled by the Parliament’s judiciary committee since October last year.
Last month, six same-sex couples in Taiwan had their marriages rejected after attempting to register en masse.
