Taiwan to allow gay couples to adopt children

Taiwan’s parliament approved the amendment on Tuesday to the law on homosexual marriage to allow same-sex couples to adopt unrelated children, reports the official news agency CNA.

Since the adoption of the aforementioned law in 2019, homosexual couples could only adopt children who are genetically related to one of the contracting parties.

General Secretary of the Union for lpromoting civil union rights in TaiwanChien Chih-chieh, said she was “delighted” by the amendment and celebrated that same-sex couples could now build “complete” families.

Until now, the activist explained, homosexual marriages in Taiwan they could adopt children they were not genetically related to if they divorced and one of the parties adopted and then remarried, although this meant they would only officially be that person’s child.

For his part, MP Fan Yun from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party welcomed the decision.

“The love of parents is the same, and only by joint adoption can we legally protect the rights and interests of both,” he added.

For its part, the Taiwan Alliance for Promote the rights of civil couplesdefender of the rights of the LGBTQ community on the island, also spoke out and described the decision as a big step towards achieving full marriage equality.

“Today’s success shows that the consensus in Taiwan is to protect the human rights of LGBTQ people and promote gender equality,” the alliance said.

The legal change comes amid growing awareness in Taiwan of what is still needed to achieve full marriage equality.

Before the adoption of the amendment, some same-sex couples passed challenging discrimination in Taiwanese courts.