First in Asia, now what? Taiwan and marriage quasi-equality

On 24 May 2017, the Council of Grand Justices of the Judicial Yuan in Taiwan declared its famous Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748, ruling that the non-recognition of same-sex marriage in law was unconstitutional. Thereafter, a huge debate emerged throughout the whole society in Taiwan, which had witnessed so much confrontation between supporters and opponents on that issue and perhaps felt really exhausted. On 17 May 2019, the Legislative Yuan (Parliament) was scheduled to debate on how to make the judges’ call a reality. Eventually they passed the so-called Enforcement Act of Judicial Yuan Interpretation No. 748, a compromised result out of all of the strange versions. To be brief, the new law grants same-sex couples ‘almost the same’ set of partnership and family rights that are available to heterosexual married couples under the Civil Code – along with certain exceptions and restrictions, which has resulted in ‘marriage quasi equality’.