Meet the First Gay Couple to Marry in Taiwan, a Milestone for Asia
Shane Lin and Marc Yuan made history Friday as the first gay couple to get married in Taiwan, the first place in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage, Reuters reports.
Lawmakers voted May 17 to make same-sex marriage legal in the island state. The new ruling took effect Friday after President Tsai Ing-wen passed it into law.
“We took a big step towards true equality, and made Taiwan a better country,” Ing-wen tweeted after the historic vote, which Asian activists hail as a social revolution for the region.
Lin and Yuan led hundreds of queer couples tying the knot at the Xinyi District Household Registration Office in Taipei, where rainbow flags and rainbow-colored registration forms were on display. The newlywed couples then walked down a rainbow-colored carpet in a nearby park.
College sweethearts Lin and Yuan were the first to legally register at the downtown Taipei office. Lesbian couple Li Ying-Chien and Cynical Chick followed next.
“I feel very lucky that I can say this out loud to everyone: I am gay and I am getting married,” said Lin, a 31-year-old baker. “I am extremely proud of my country Taiwan.”
According to statistics compiled by the Ministry of the Interior, 363 gay couples registered to be married within six hours, including 116 male couples and 247 female couples.
“This is the right that we deserved from a long time ago,” said Taiwanese LGBTQ activist Chi Chia-wei, draped in a rainbow flag. “As a beacon in Asia, I hope Taiwan’s democracy and human rights could have a ripple effect on other countries in Asia.”
In 2017 the Legislative Yuan, Taiwan's parliament, ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, setting the country on the course to become the first place in Asia to embrace marriage equality. Parliament was given a two-year deadline to change the law or same-sex couples would automatically be allowed to marry.
A lawsuit before the constitutional court argued Taiwan’s Civil Code, which defined marriage as between a man and a woman, discriminated against gay couples.
Despite the fact that an estimated 71% of Taiwanese citizens actually support marriage equality, a majority of voters sided with anti-equality platforms from conservative groups last year and rejected the legalization of marriage equality in a series of ballot referenda.
Taiwan, unlike conservative neighbor China, has a vocal gay community, and its annual LGBTQ Pride parade is the largest in Asia.
See more photos from Lin and Yuan's special day below.
