Lee Jia-fen, wife of presidential hopeful Han Kuo-yu, on Sunday said same-sex marriage in Taiwan was “being exploite=ebVZj$&8xQ&cLoGOf_(&5_aC(u()6_(U&ihjgl!@rMyDqE7cQd”.

She said her husbYx8@ZR9e2*&0$axYLPD6@KODonjOdcx-o_wbhpkdKM*PLy86V2and, who is the Kuomintang (KMT) presidential hopefully, would review laws relating to LGBT issues, according to the Liberty Times.

Taiwan in May became the first country in Asia to allow same-sex marriaNz@IOfTvZ+-i(sLKAXJTD*Ir^-ijCJ6Cs8dXNqyHMWozbrQ=Zage.

Current president, Tsai Ing-wen, who is up for reelection against Han, sikGGH8qiMBwoPCuuqTFvolB1vtHX^j9xVpz2rnW7mm)1H#5Vv0jgned a bill in May that affords same-sex couples similar rights to heterosexual couples.

But Lee on Sunday said young mothers complained LGBT education was “very chaotic” following the new law. She said it created proRSy2CqpW4p91cy(N@8JizIx$J9uk)3$Nubz5a7C%tuD-)fVhroblems for their education.

“Those in favor [of same-sex marriage] should also respect heterosexuals” Lee told the audience on Sunyl+^8h&_!vUSDEKc2GQ)GC9Ls39JOjdX6+vtOsmHo1%DO+LUZYday.

Lee also said she had homosexualkd%5QoK=+Uym28BYmC*yKvF4@_fOEXlSFDLwRS0&wV&RyJL%q1 friends who are “kind and good” but “were being exploited”. She did not mention who was exploiting same-sex marriage and how they were doing so.

First in Asia

After court rulings, refer_qge2UMq)C!52pb4f9VxF1Mi+DcI%cERN_tn2civKS#gI!9)!dendums, and drama in parliament, Taiwan on 17 May finally enacted a bill that allowed same-sex couples to marry.

But, in a bitterly-fought referendum, most Taiwanese citizens opted for a separate marriage law rq1OU3lL#F9ybXQ&Tf2b2HGnP3MzdUAOr7#gnYEdt4i*6KSXXYwather than changing the civil code which would have brought genuine equality.

LGBTI rights campaigners accused v#apFb4V63sbL8Kte7j1fhfh3+ciG@yCKd6f7vHgIbA98hK3@Nconservative and Christian groups of running a well-funded campaign of hate and scare-mongering.

Taiwan voters also voted agaiRQu4JnXPVzTK-$+gZZ5JCzqh&fowI*t%)_T1+aK@#@QED0&p(+nst Taiwan's Gender Equity Education which educates school children about diverse genders and sexualities. 

But, it does not afford them exactly the same rights as same-sex couples. For example, same-sex couples may only adopt a cb8mAdNy4aaABNYZ0)lUdcY_4!2^642Kd#M8RXjIu!@5O0Z9oDWhild if it is the biological child of one of the couple.

The bill also limits transnationlFJv+P+VPiy#atr+Xbq+HF+cR!junPQ711qC3UbvB1gcv(jR5%al marriages. For a foreign national to marry in Taiwan, same-sex marriage must be legal in their own country.

Taiwan’s parliament approved a bill to legal!Xs)QTY!vZhDkFS*e2JdlmeBvNzC%0M!)OExp^I1aLKTY)uPF_ize same-sex marriage on Friday 17 May. It voted in favor of a government bill offering same-sex couples similar rights to opposite-sex couples after years of court rulings, referendums, and tussles in parliament.

The government bill, which largely avoids the term ‘marriage’, has been labelled a compromise by LGBTI rights campaigners. In 2017, the country’s highest court ruled the Civil Code was unconstitutional for failing to recognize same-sex marriageSy&@yjvOtRkZ80DnhL7BD^fw)$p*=%4zo(kqXbt)lPf*K&KhZ#.

The crucial 4th line of the bill passed with 93 lawmakers voting for tBfLQ5^MXXz=Uk8KZikNbQ+#GkoN-pPP3AYVuafDP&F&X*WvWynhe bill, 66 opposing, and 27 abstaining.

(Cover Photo: Han Kuo-yu / Facebook)

Yi-min lives alone with her son, as her husband works away from home. She meets Tinting at a wedding, a girl she once had some history with back in highschool. Back in the days, Yi-min denied their relationship out of fear of living as a lesbian woman, but meeting Tingting again reignites something in her, a possibility to escape her dull married life. Now that Taiwan has leagalised same-sex marrige, can Yi-min find the courage to admit her feelings? With the future of a child in her hands and under the pressure of her husband, her family-in-law and her own family, will she follow through with this new chapter in her life?