Monday, June 27, 2022
manilastandard.net
ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Others
    • Pets
    • Pop.Life
      • Newsmakers
      • Hangouts
      • A-Pop
      • Post Its
      • Performances
      • Malls & Bazaars
      • Hobbies & Collections
    • Technology
      • Gadgets
      • Computers
      • Business
      • Tech Plus
    • MS ON THE ROAD
      • Sedan
      • SUV
      • Truck
      • Bike
      • Accessories
      • Motoring Plus
      • Commuter’s Corner
    • Home & Design
      • Residential
      • Commercial
      • Construction
      • Interior
    • Spotlight
    • Gallery
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Events
      • Seminars
      • Exhibits
      • Community
    • Biyahero
      • Travel Features
      • Travel Reels
      • Travel Logs
  • Advertise with Us
No Result
View All Result
manilastandard.net
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Gay couples seek foreign marriage okay in Taiwan

AFPbyAFP
May 19, 2022, 6:00 pm
in News, World News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
A A
91
SHARES
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Email

Taiwan’s LGBTQ community celebrated the third year of gay marriage being legal this week, but for Vincent Chuang it was a bittersweet reminder that he still cannot wed because he fell in love with a foreigner.

In this photo taken on May 12, 2022, Vincent Chuang, a Taiwanese teacher, shows pictures with his Filipino partner Andrew Espera at home in New Taipei City. Taiwan’s LGBTQ community celebrated the third year of gay marriage being legal this week but for Chuang, it was a bittersweet reminder that he still cannot wed because he fell in love with a foreigner. AFP

Socially progressive Taiwan is at the vanguard of Asia’s gay rights movement, and became the first in the region to legalize same-sex unions on May 17, 2019.

But the law still contains restrictions that heterosexual couples do not face, including limits on which foreigners same-sex couples can wed.

Under the current rules, Taiwanese nationals can only marry those from the roughly 30 countries and territories where same-sex marriage is also legal.

Activists say that discriminates against most transnational couples and keeps them apart, especially during the pandemic, which has seen partners unable to cross borders and enter Taiwan as dependents or spouses.

ADVERTISEMENT

For Chuang, a 36-year-old teacher, the enforced split from his Filipino partner Andrew Espera has been painful.
“We are just two people who love each other and who want to be with each other. We are not asking for anything extravagant, only this small right,” he told AFP.

Chuang met Espera, a cook, six years ago during a trip to the Philippines.

“He was a chef at the bed and breakfast place I was staying. It was love at first sight,” he recalled.

The pandemic forced the couple into a video call relationship, with Espera teaching his partner Tagalog and cooking as they tried various ways to be reunited.

They almost gave up until Espera eventually secured a student visa and they were finally reunited this week. But both feel they have been denied a basic right given to heterosexuals.

“We are hoping and praying for this, (that) Taiwan can accept us, accept our relationship and allow us to be legalized partners even though my country is yet to legalize same-sex marriage,” Espera, 31, told AFP.

The Taiwan Alliance to Promote Civil Partnership Rights says some 470 transnational same-sex couples currently wish to get married but are unable.

The advocacy group has launched multiple legal battles to push for full marital recognition involving foreigners.

Alliance secretary general Chien Chih-chieh said Taiwan’s government often “basks in the fame of being Asia’s first” to legalize gay marriage.

“But there is still an obvious missing piece that needs to be mended.”

Government employee Lee Wei-cheng last saw his partner, a 33-year-old from Myanmar, when they joined a huge 2019 Pride march in Taiwan that drew a record crowd of 200,000 to celebrate gay marriage legalization.

Since then, they have been kept separated by both the pandemic and last year’s coup in Myanmar.

Every day Lee, 31, worries for the safety of his partner, who is ethnic Karen, amid ongoing fighting between a Karen armed group and junta troops.

“We hope to live together in Taiwan and we thought getting married would be the easiest way, but we are still unable to do it,” he told AFP.

“We’ve been separated for three years and we feel so helpless. As Taiwanese, I should have the right to marry whom I want to marry, but I’ve been deprived of that right – the freedom of marriage.”

Tags: gayLGBTQMarriageTaiwan
ADVERTISEMENT
AFP

AFP

Related Posts

Booster for kids 12 to 17 put off

byWillie Casas
June 27, 2022, 12:55 am
0
182
Cycling infrastructure

Health council requires 40% of seniors per area to be covered first A technicality is delaying booster shots against COVID-19...

Read more

5 killed, 2 missing in boat mishaps off Bohol, Bataan

byAFP
June 27, 2022, 12:50 am
0
181
Supporters, fans flock to ‘Salamat, PRRD’ concert

At least five people were killed in two separate maritime incidents, authorities said on Sunday. A passenger was killed while...

Read more

WHO: Monkeypox a deeply evolving threat

byAFP
June 27, 2022, 12:45 am
0
161
Experts: Monkeypox hard to detect

The World Health Organization's chief said the monkeypox outbreak was a deeply concerning evolving threat but did not currently constitute...

Read more

Guevarra to let his successor complete review of drug war

byRey E. Requejo
June 27, 2022, 12:40 am
0
161
Control gate to replace BuCor wall

Outgoing Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Sunday said it is now up to the incoming Marcos administration to continue the...

Read more

Supporters, fans flock to ‘Salamat, PRRD’ concert

byManila Standard
June 27, 2022, 12:35 am
0
290
Supporters, fans flock to ‘Salamat, PRRD’ concert

Heavy rains did not dampen the spirits of thousands of supporters and fans of President Rodrigo Duterte who attended the...

Read more

BBM says family in transition, prays for good weather

byRey E. Requejo
June 27, 2022, 12:30 am
0
246
Quezon beauty is Ms. Global, first for PH

President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he is praying for good weather when he takes his oath as the 17th President...

Read more

Stories you may like

  • Ex-Naga dad links Leni’s brother-in-law to illegal drugs

    Ex-Naga dad links Leni’s brother-in-law to illegal drugs

    36738 shares
    Share 14695 Tweet 9185
  • Of course, it was BBM’s project

    30876 shares
    Share 12350 Tweet 7719
  • INC endorses BBM, Sara

    28806 shares
    Share 11522 Tweet 7202
  • Duterte’s seven biggest achievements

    21924 shares
    Share 8770 Tweet 5481
  • Marcos leads SWS survey on presidentiables at 50%

    13583 shares
    Share 5433 Tweet 3396

Print Edition

View More

Recent Posts

  • PHILIPPINE SEVEN CORPORATION: Notice of Annual Stockholders’ Meeting
  • Booster for kids 12 to 17 put off
  • Filipina Queen
  • 5 killed, 2 missing in boat mishaps off Bohol, Bataan
  • WHO: Monkeypox a deeply evolving threat
  • Guevarra to let his successor complete review of drug war
  • Supporters, fans flock to ‘Salamat, PRRD’ concert
  • BBM says family in transition, prays for good weather

Advertisement

Latest News

Guevarra to let his successor complete review of drug war

byRey E. Requejo
June 27, 2022, 12:40 am
0
161
Control gate to replace BuCor wall

Outgoing Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra on Sunday said it is now up to the incoming Marcos administration to continue the...

Read more

Supporters, fans flock to ‘Salamat, PRRD’ concert

byManila Standard
June 27, 2022, 12:35 am
0
290
Supporters, fans flock to ‘Salamat, PRRD’ concert

Heavy rains did not dampen the spirits of thousands of supporters and fans of President Rodrigo Duterte who attended the...

Read more

BBM says family in transition, prays for good weather

byRey E. Requejo
June 27, 2022, 12:30 am
0
246
Quezon beauty is Ms. Global, first for PH

President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he is praying for good weather when he takes his oath as the 17th President...

Read more

AFP spokes heads PSG, senior aide to the President

byManila Standard
June 27, 2022, 12:25 am
0
218
AFP spokes heads PSG, senior aide to the President

President-elect Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has chosen Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Col. Ramon Zagala as acting commander of the...

Read more

Biden says G7, NATO must ‘stay together’ against Russia’s war

byAFP
June 27, 2022, 12:20 am
0
150
Biden delays possible trip to Saudi Arabia, Israel: report

US President Joe Biden on Sunday praised Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his leadership in the wake of Russia's war...

Read more

Advertisement

ADVERTISEMENT
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube

ABOUT US

Manila Standard

Manila Standard website (manilastandard.net), launched in August 2002, extends the newspaper’s reach beyond its traditional readers and makes its brand of Philippine news and opinion available to a much wider and geographically diverse readership here and overseas.

Digital Edition

In tone and content, the online edition mirrors the editorial thrust of the newspaper. While hewing to the traditional precepts of fairness and objectivity, MS believes the news of the day need not be staid, overly long or dry. Stories are succinct, readable and written in a lively style that has become a hallmark of the newspaper.

Download – Today’s Paper

Search

No Result
View All Result

6th Floor Universal Re Bldg., 106 Paseo De Roxas cor. Perea Street, Legaspi Village, 1226 Makati City Philippines

Trunklines: 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • National
    • World News
    • Pinoy Abroad
    • Features
  • Opinion
    • Editorial
    • Columns
    • Soundbytes
  • LGUs
    • NCR
    • Luzon
    • Visayas
    • Mindanao
  • Business
    • Corporate
    • Economy & Trade
    • Stocks
    • Money
    • Agri & Mining
    • Power & Tech
    • IT & Telecom
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Volleyball
    • Fightsports
    • Active
    • Sports Plus
    • One Championship
    • Columns
  • Entertainment
    • TV & Movies
    • Celebrity Profiles
    • Music & Concerts
    • Digital Media
    • Columns
  • Lifestyle
    • Food
    • Culture & Media
    • Fashion
    • Health and Home
    • Leisure
    • Shopping
    • Columns
  • Pop.Life
    • Newsmakers
    • Hangouts
    • A-Pop
    • Post Its
    • Performances
    • Malls & Bazaars
    • Hobbies & Collections
  • Technology
    • Gadgets
    • Computers
    • Business
    • Tech Plus
  • MS ON THE ROAD
    • Sedan
    • SUV
    • Truck
    • Bike
    • Accessories
    • Motoring Plus
    • Commuter’s Corner
  • Home & Design
    • Residential
    • Commercial
    • Construction
    • Interior
  • Spotlight
  • Gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • Events
    • Seminars
    • Exhibits
    • Community
  • Biyahero
    • Travel Features
    • Travel Reels
    • Travel Logs
  • Pets
  • Advertise with Us

© 2021 Manila Standard - Designed and Developed by Neitiviti Studios.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Install Manila Standard Web App

Install App