Woman must pay husband huge sum after leaving him for a woman
A woman has been ordered to pay her ex-husband £13,000 after leaving him for another woman.
A district court in northern Hsinchu, in Taiwan, told Ms Hsu, 35, to pay her ex-husband Mr Lin, 38, a sum of Tw$500,000, which is around £13,000.
The compensation covers wedding fees, betrothal money, decoration expenses and emotional pain.
She married him under pressure from her parents, as they were fiercely opposed to her same-sex relationship, court documents showed.
On her wedding night, she told her new husband that she was a lesbian, and left him a few days later.
She had sent a message to an unidentified third party months before, saying she had a close relationship with a woman but her mother would not allow them to be together.
“She dated the plaintiff to ease her mother’s concerns,” the judgement stated.
Mr Lin and Ms Hsu met on a blind date, before both sets of parents put pressure on them to marry.
Taiwan is close to becoming the first country in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage, with a bill due for a final reading in December after jumping the first hurdle last year.
The issue has divided the country though, with religious and conservative groups protesting against a bill which critics say would damage family values.
Earlier this year, following protests in favour of the bill, President Tsai Ing-wen said: “Let’s not treat the people around us as enemies.”
The bill would frame marriage as between two people, rather than specifically between a man and a woman.
